“I think the raids would have given mental satisfaction to many, especially to someone like Rahul Gandhi,” Kerala Leader of Opposition PInarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday, May 27, regarding the Enforcement Directorate raids held at his residences and other locations earlier in the day.
The raids began on the morning of Wednesday, May 27, at 12 locations in connection with financial transactions involving the IT firm of Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T and chemicals company Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL).
Speaking to the media on Wednesday afternoon, Pinarayi recalled an election speech made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. “He had asked ‘why Pinarayi Vijayan has not been arrested’ and ‘why Pinarayi Vijayan’s house had not been raided’,” the CPI(M) leader and former chief minister recalled, adding that the raids may have given much satisfaction to Rahul Gandhi.
Besides Pinarayi Vijayan, several top CPI(M) leaders accused the Congress of colluding with the BJP to conduct the raids at 12 locations linked to Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T, and the CMRL company. Protesting CPI(M) workers carried banners that read, “Modi, VD, ED,” with VD standing for Chief Minister VD Satheeshan. Leaders also pointed out that it is suspect that the ED raids happened soon after Satheeshan visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.
Terming the ED action “political vendetta,” CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas told the media, “We must also underscore the fact that in this unfolding drama, the BJP is not alone. The Congress party is part and parcel of this game. Just before the elections, Rahul Gandhi came to Kerala, descended upon the state, and his very first question was, ‘Why are central agencies not implicating Pinarayi Vijayan, arresting him, and putting him behind bars?’”
In April 2024, while campaigning in Kerala for the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had accused Pinarayi Vijayan of being a “right-wing puppet” and implied that that was why the CPI(M) veteran did not face any probes by central agencies. “I want to understand why the CBI and the ED take action against opposition politicians but do not take action against the chief minister of Kerala. I’ve got 36 cases on me. I have been interrogated by the ED for 55 hours continuously. Why has the ED taken no action on the chief minister of Kerala and his family? And the reason is that they are working together,” Rahul Gandhi had said.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that Congress does not have any relationship with the BJP. “Everyone in Kerala knows that the understanding was between the CPI(M) and the BJP. What happened to that understanding now, they have to tell the people. We are fighting with the BJP. We fought with the BJP and CPI(M) and came to power,” he told the media.
Prominent leaders, including former Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said that the raids were an example of the BJP-led Union government weaponising central agencies against opposition leaders.
“The BJP government has unleashed a targeted attack against the country’s opposition parties and their leaders,” Pinarayi alleged, adding, “The ED has been wishing for such a raid for a long time. We are not going to be finished by any of this. We see this as just the starting. They need not hope to defeat us with such actions.”
