CPI(M) leaders rally behind Pinarayi in SFIO case against his daughter

A day after the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs filed its final complaint against T. Veena, daughter of Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) pay-off case, the CPI(M) rallied behind Mr. Vijayan in solidarity. But there appeared to be serious differences of opinion in the top leadership of the party on the way to approach the case.

A day after the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) filed its final complaint against T. Veena, daughter of Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) pay-off case, the CPI(M) rallied behind Mr. Vijayan in solidarity. But there appeared to be serious differences of opinion in the top leadership of the party on the way to approach the case.

Polit Bureau coordinator Prakash Karat on Friday morning said the case would be fought politically and legally. “If they [BJP] think they can target the Chief Minister by doing such things against his family members, we are prepared to face it and I’m sure it will be fought politically and legally,” he told the media.

Several leaders from Kerala claimed the case was politically motivated while some leaders, such as Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby, alleged a conspiracy behind it. He said what made the SFIO’s move suspicious was its timing, coinciding with the Tamil Nadu and Kerala Chief Ministers sharing a stage in Madurai.

Party Kerala secretary M.V. Govindan, too, found the timing problematic and he said it was intended to take the sheen off the Party Congress. He reiterated that the case was between two companies [CMRL and the now-defunct Exalogic, owned by Ms. Veena], which was being appropriated for political ends. 

But Polit Bureau member Mohammed Salim, who briefed the media on Friday evening, chose to insist that the CPI(M) was not party to the case, and it was up to the individuals indicted in the case to fight it legally. “The case has nothing to do with the party,” he maintained.  

Mr. Salim accused the Centre of using its agencies for political purposes when he was asked about the Enforcement Directorate’s searches at the offices of the co-producer of the film Empuraan.  

The political-tactical line calling for an enhancement of the independent strength of the CPI(M) and the continuation of a coming together of broad secular and democratic forces, which will also include the Congress party, to defeat the ‘neofascist regime’ at the Centre was approved by the Party Congress on Friday evening.