Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: An indirect remark of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the links of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office with gold smuggling seems to have put the BJP on the defensive.
Congress camps are using Modi's remarks to step up their allegations of CPM-BJP nexus, rather Pinarayi - Modi nexus.
Congress leaders are asking why the central agencies are not acting against the chief minister's office (CMO) even as the Prime Minister himself was stating that the involvement of "an office" in the gold smuggling was well known.
Congress leaders are also alleging that the undue delay in the proceedings by the CBI in the SNC Lavalin corruption case involving Vijayan as well as the lack of action in the election fund case against BJP top leaders in Kerala are part of the CPM-BJP nexus.
Even as the BJP camps are trying to put up a defence by citing the arrest of Chief Minister's secretary M Sivasankar in the gold and dollar smuggling cases, Congress camps maintain that the IAS officer was made a scapegoat.
Though chief minister's additional private secretary and his close confidant C M Raveedran was quizzed by the central agencies, no further action was taken. While central agencies were taking stringent actions against chief ministers and ministers of non-BJP ruling states, in Kerala no such actions were being taken, Congress leaders point out.
It was during his speech at the women's meet at Thrissur in Kerala on Wednesday that Modi stated that the involvement of an office in the gold smuggling was well known. Though he did not specify the Chief Minister's office, it was considered as an obvious reference.