Left govt has nothing to hide in Kerala gold smuggling case: CPI (M) state secretary

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], July 18 (ANI): The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala has nothing to hide in the gold smuggling case and that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took appropriate action in the matter, CPI (M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Friday.
Addressing a digital video conference, he said that suspension of IAS officer M Sivasankar was proof that government would not protect anyone.
"As soon as Sivasankar's name came up for his links with Swapna Suresh, he was removed from the post of principal secretary to the Chief Minister and also from IT secretary post. A government has to follow certain procedures and based on it a panel headed by chief secretary was appointed to conduct an inquiry. As soon as the report was received, the Chief Minister suspended him," he said.
He said that Congress and BJP are politicising the gold smuggling case with an aim to weaken the Left government.
"The Opposition is saying that they will move a non-confidence motion. When it fails, people will get to know that the Opposition was trying to reap political gains from the issue," he said.
Replying to a remark made by BJP national president JP Nadda, he said, "JP Nadda said that the colour of gold reaching Kerala is red. But the details from the investigation so far is emerging that the colour of gold reaching Kerala is saffron and green. If the investigation goes in the right direction, this will be proved," he said.
Balakrishnan said that Congress and BJP were holding protests violating all COVID-19 norms in their effort to destabilise the government.
"The CPI (M) state secretariat has decided to conduct a door to door campaign from August 1 to make people aware about the developments. A branch level campaign will also be carried out from August 15 following all COVID-19 guidelines," he added.
Customs officials on Friday raided a jewellery shop in Kozhikode in connection with the gold smuggling case. The residence of the jewellery shop owner was also raided.
Sivasankar, who handled two plum positions as Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and state IT secretary, was stripped of the posts after his alleged links with Suresh, one of the accused in the gold smuggling case, surfaced.
As part of the investigation into gold smuggling case, the customs had grilled the IAS officer for about nine hours after more evidence of his links with accused Swapna, Sarith and Sandeep Nair, including mobile phone records were found. (ANI)