Kochi: BJP state president K Surendran on Wednesday said it is now clear that the Chief Minister is the first accused in the gold smuggling conspiracy. He was speaking at a press conference in Kochi after ED took M Sivasankar into custody.
Surendran said that Sivasankar executed Chief Minister’s direction in gold smuggling case. He alleged that it was Chief Minister who introduced Sivasankar to the smugglers. Sivasankar had called Customs department several times to release the seized gold from the Thiruvananthapuram airport. He said that the BJP pointed out this the next day after the gold was seized.
After the floods, Sivasankaran and Swapna Suresh acted as intermediaries to bring money to Kerala from abroad. Surendran pointed out that everything was with the knowledge of the Chief Minister and a part of it went to the Life Mission Project of the Chief Minister. Investigation agencies should check all transactions made in Kerala post the flood crisis, Surendran demanded.
The BJP will organise a chain protest from Parassala to Manjeswaram on November 1 demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister and other Ministers. Surendran said that some members of the cabinet and some additional secretaries in the chief minister’s office were involved in the smuggling and that Pinarayi Vijayan should step down from the post of Chief Minister if there was to be a proper investigation into the matter.
