Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday abandoned the kid gloves and delivered a few raw political punches on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the ruling CPI-M in Kerala. At a rally in Kattakkada near Thiruvananthapuram, Modi directly referred to the alleged monthly payments made by a private mining firm to Pinarayis daughter Veena Vijayan in exchange of favours.
Though he did not take the name of Pinarayi or Veena, he mentioned that the chief minister tried his best to throw spanners into the ED inquiries against him in the gold smuggling case and the monthly payment scandal. The inquiries will continue with vigour in the coming days, Modi added.
The PM was campaigning for Union ministers VM Muraleedharan who is a candidate from Attingal and Rajeev Chandrasekhar from the state capital and actor Krishna Kumar from Kollam. Earlier, addressing a huge crowd of party supporters in Kunnamkulam in Thrissur, Modi focused on the Karuvannur cooperative scam in which CPI-M leaders are involved.
“Karuvannur bank scam is an example of the Lefts attempts to loot public money. CPI-M leaders looted money from the bank where people from middle class and lower middle families invested their hard-earned money. Money that was saved and deposited at Karuvannur for conducting daughters marriage were denied. Parents were not able to organise their daughter's marriage due to the scam of Karuvannur,” he said as the PM focussed on issues facing women who form a sizeable population in Kerala.
PM attacked Vijayan over the cooperative scam
In a jibe at Vijayan, Modi alleged for the past three years, the CM had been lying about the scam, but the Modi government recovered Rs90 crore from the fraudsters in cooperative scam. Modi promised to give back the funds people deposited in the cooperative banks including Karuvannur. He added in the past ten years, Rs17,000 crore was recovered from such fraudsters and had been returned to victims of scams in the country and would also happen in Karuvannur.
PM slammed over CPI-M allegations
He alleged the Left government is using innovative ways for looting the public. Modi didn't hesitate to pinpoint that CPI-M leaders had benefitted from the Karuvannur scam. The ED unearthed the Karuvannur bank scam and has so far laid their hands on seven secret accounts operated by CPI-M functionaries.
Party district secretaries have been grilled and former MP PK Biju has so far been questioned for over 18 hours over two days. Modi said political murders were happening on college campuses in God's own country, indirectly indicating the death of Sidharth at Pookode Veterinary College at the hands of SFI, the student wing of the CPI-M and the bomb making unit unearthed by the police in Kannur.
Modi spoke about Thriprayar Sree Rama Temple, as the Ayodhya of south India. He expressed being proud to be in Kerala during Vishu celebrations and upcoming Thrissur Pooram. He was campaigning for actor Suresh Gopi, the party candidate from Thrissur and TN Sarasu from Alathur.
