New Delhi: The ruling BJP on Monday fielded three southern leaders – two from Kerala – to lambaste at the Congress party for the high drama enacted by them in connection to ED questioning Rahul Gandhi in a corruption and money laundering case.
“There is an attempt to redefine the concept of Satyagraha, some kind of cover for economic corruption….leaders like P Chidambaram, K C Venugopal and D. K. Shivakumar have flocked to Delhi to protest an investigation into economic offence. It seems Congress party is signaling to all economic offenders of the country that when confronted with probe and questioning, the way to respond to that is to collect a crowd,” Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said at a joint press conference.
These dramas are attempts to “intimidate the investigating agency”, he said. With regard to a case in Kerala the “needle of suspicion now firmly settled on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the CMO and his family”.
Chandrasekhar said the Kerala CM himself in a letter in 2020 had assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the state government will provide “all assistance” to the probe into the gold smuggling case and that every link should be “unraveled”.
“But from that day till today, the Kerala government and Kerala administration have done everything to block the investigation,” he said.
Chandrasekhar said – “People associated with the establishment attempted to meet a lady (involved in the case) and settle the matter”.
Another Union Minister V Muraleedharan pointed out to alleged ridiculous practice by Kerala police as they have given up ‘black umbrellas’ but now carry “coloured umbrellas”.
“…… Because Chief Minister Vijayan does not want to see black (a colour associate with protest) anywhere”, he said. “The communists always take moral high ground of democracy, human rights, freedom of expressions …but in Kerala, as the Chief Minister traveled from Tiruvanathapuram to Kannur in the north, on ways transgenders were beaten up because they wore black dress”.
“It is the height of fascism…more fascists than Hitler,” said MoS External Affairs.
Agreeing with Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s observations on the gold smuggling case that the needle of suspicion points towards the Chief Minister, Muraleedharan said – “Why should one is frightened so much unless he has something to hide”.
BJP leader Tom Vadakkam said the Kerala CM is “suffering from black syndrome”.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in 2019 polls, said the Congress is not protesting to save democracy, but to save Rahul Gandhi’s properties worth Rs 2,000 crore. She said that never before has a political family attempted to hold investigative agencies to ransom to protect “ill-gotten wealth”.
