Thiruvananthapuram, May 28 (IANS) Kerala Revenue Minister and senior Congress leader A.P. Anil Kumar on Thursday came down heavily on former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi instead of the Centre after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid at his residence.

Soon after the ED team completed the searches on Wednesday, Vijayan had remarked that ‘Rahul Gandhi would now be happy’, referring to repeated questions raised by the Congress leader over why no action had been taken against him by the ED in the CMRL-Exalogic financial transactions case.

Reacting sharply to the statement, Anil Kumar questioned why Vijayan had remained completely silent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre despite central agencies conducting raids against him and his family. “Why is Pinarayi Vijayan not uttering a single word against Prime Minister Modi while targeting Rahul Gandhi? He has always shown a certain fear towards PM Modi, and that was visible again yesterday,” Anil Kumar said.

The minister alleged that during his nearly decade-long tenure as Chief Minister, Vijayan consistently avoided directly confronting the Prime Minister, even while attacking opposition parties in Kerala.

The remarks came amid escalating political tensions following allegations that CPI(M) workers attacked ED officials and CRPF personnel while they were leaving Vijayan’s residence after conducting searches linked to the controversial CMRL-Exalogic case involving Vijayan’s daughter T. Veena.

On Thursday, State Police Chief DGP Ravada Chandrasekhar held a closed-door meeting with Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, along with two other senior police officials, to review the incident and the security arrangements during the ED operation.

After the meeting, police officials said strict action would be initiated if any lapse was found on the part of police personnel deployed outside Vijayan’s residence during the violence.

The SPC DGP said, “300 police personnel had been deployed in the area as part of security arrangements during the ED raid. So far, eight people have been arrested in connection with the violence. Efforts were continuing to identify and arrest the remaining accused.”

He also clarified that the Centre had not sought any separate report on the violence from the Kerala Police despite the involvement of ED officials and central security personnel.

The police are now examining video footage and eyewitness accounts to determine how the attack unfolded and whether there were failures in crowd control or security coordination.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, currently on a visit to Kozhikode, continued to remain silent on both the ED raid and the attack despite repeated questions from the media.

–IANS

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