Kerala Speaker rejects allegations by smuggling accused

Controversies continue to erupt in Kerala ahead of Assembly polls as the gold smuggling case key accused Swapna Suresh's statement about Assembly Speaker surfaced. Meanwhile, Vigilance found out that the Union Democratic Front candidate K M Shaji has amassed illegal wealth.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Assembly Speaker and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader P Sreeramakrishnan seem to have been hooked by a ‘statement’ released, allegedly that of gold smuggling case key accused Swapna Suresh. As per the released statement, Swapna allegedly said that the Speaker has invested in a Middle East College in Oman and that there are plans to start a branch of the same college in Sharjah. A statement from Sarith, another key accused person in the gold smuggling case, allegedly said that the Speaker has given a huge sum to the Consulate General.

Reacting to these ‘statements’, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said that the alleged ‘statements’ being released by the media are all baseless and misleading. The Central investigation agencies release many information with vested political interests and don the role of election campaigners themselves, Sreeramakrishnan added.

Meanwhile, the Vigilance department has found that the UDF candidate at Azheekkod, K M Shaji, has amassed illegal wealth. The agency is said to have found out that Shaji has 166 per cent more illegal revenue between 2011 and 2020. Shaji has responded stating that the Vigilance is trying to play politics. He said he has no illegal property in his name.

With hardly two weeks left for the elections, the Congress may have to face more setbacks as more leaders might leave the party. KPCC former general secretary P.M. Suresh Babu has also said that he is thinking of resigning from Congress. Suresh Babu said, Congress has lost its relevance and the party is in a state where there is no leader to lead the party at national level. He also said that he is ready to align with the LDF and work together.

The rejection of nominations filed by three of the BJP- NDA candidates has been a jolt to the BJP leadership in Kerala.

At Guruvayur and Devikulam, the BJP has decided to support the candidates who are not part of both the LDF or the UDF, as there is no NDA candidate to contest from here. The BJP is in a pathetic state where it doesn’t even have a candidate to support in the absence of its own candidate in the constituency. It is to be remembered that the BJP had aggregated more than 20000 votes from the Thalassery seat in the last elections. These votes remain crucial for both the LDF and the UDF candidates fielded here as the BJP has no candidate here.

At Guruvayur, the BJP is to support the Social Justice Party. As the independent candidate in Thalassery - COT Nazeer - publicly declared that he does not need the BJP’s support in Thalassery, Union Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah who was to reach Thalassery and campaign for the BJP in Kerala, has changed his plans.