Kozhikode (Kerala) Oct 19 (IANS): The Congress party on Monday alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his now suspended secretary M.Sivasankar were functioning in unison, trying to save each other in cases that have rocked the state and were being probed by various national agencies.
Senior IAS officer Sivasankar, who also held the post of the IT secretary, was first removed and then suspended, soon after his links with prime accused Swapna Suresh surfaced in the gold smuggling case.
Addressing the media here, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said till date, Vijayan has not condemned the act of Sivasankar, who by now has been questioned for several days by various national probe agencies.
"While two Cabinet Ministers -- G.Sudhakaran and Kadakampally Surendran openly condemned the act of Sivasankar, Vijayan is yet to say a word about Sivasankar, and likewise the statements of Sivasankar given to various agencies do not contain a word about Vijayan. In the beginning, when the allegations came, Vijayan used to take credit that it was he who had asked for the probe, and when it got deeper, Vijayan started to feel the heat," said Chennithala.
"No one will ever believe that Sivasankar would have done all this without Vijayan's knowledge and he is doing his best to bail out Vjjayan, and Vijayan is also doing his best to bail out Sivasankar. The two were partners in crime and when the CBI and Customs probe dwelled deep, the Vijayan government has started to get restless and is doing its best and even approached the court to stop the CBI probe," added Chennithala.
Sivasankar, on Monday, when he was in all likelihood to be questioned by the Customs, sought medical help saying he was unwell. However, after undergoing an angiography, he was found out to be perfectly fine in a private hospital. The next day, he was moved to the State Medical College here after he stated that he had a bad back.
On Monday he approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail from being arrested by the Customs, while last week, he got an order from the court asking the Enforcement Directorate not to arrest him till 23rd of this month.