BJP, CPI-M hand in glove in gold smuggling case cover-up: Cong

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29 (IANS) The Congress in Kerala has expressed doubts whether the ruling parties in the State and the Centre are hand in glove in covering up the controversial gold smuggling case.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala alleged it's now come out in the open, that though these two parties appear they are on different routes, when the need comes, they are one.

"It was the other day that, Anil Nambiar, a senior editor of Janam TV -- billed as the TV channel of the BJP -- was questioned by the Customs department in connection with the gold smuggling case. Earlier the top official of the CPI-M backed TV channel Kairali, John Brittas openly said that the prime accused in the case Swapna Suresh got Rs 4.25 crores as commission, a charge that was confirmed by State Finance Minister Thomas Issac. Swapna's statement now reveals that Nambiar knew of this," said Chennithala.

"Joining the issue was Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who in the first few days said the gold was not found in the UAE diplomatic baggage. How can he say that," asked Chennithala. He also targeted State Law Minister A.K. Balan who the other day threatened to take legal action against all those who spread canards against their government.

"He also cautioned the media that they will approach the Press Council of India against baseless news. How can such a thing happen in a democracy. He should apologise for making such threats. The CPI-M is now using their time-tested strategy, either they come out with threats against the media and if that's not successful, they extend 'carrots' by way of advertisements . Now what we hear is that the state government is coming out with advertisements on their KIFBI module, which is now become a big burden as loans are being taken from all around and the next government will have a tough time," added Chennithala.

Chennithala said that when the Left was in opposition they mercilessly targeted then chief minister Oommen Chandy in the Solar case. "The public memory is not that short. They all will remember how and what happened then," added Chennithala.

However State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran told the media that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, as soon as this case surfaced, said that many will come under the scanner once the probe gets into high gear.

"Now it's surfacing with Nambiar being questioned. In the coming days, big sharks will be fished out in the probe. Numerous people have been arrested in the case and one section of those arrested are aligned towards the BJP, while the other section is aligned with the Congress-led UDF. It's a matter of time before things come out," said Surendran.

The image of the Vijayan government took a beating when the gold smuggling racket was unearthed after P.S. Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was arrested by the Customs Department on July 5 when he was facilitating smuggling of 30 kg of gold in diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai.

The NIA took into custody Swapna, a former UAE Consulate employee and a close aide of the now suspended senior IAS officer M. Sivasankar, who held the dual posts of principal secretary to Vijayan and also the IT state secretary. Since then the Congress has been on the warpath against Vijayan, who has been avoiding the media.