CPI(M), CPI deny political or legal variance on ED’s attempt to target Pinarayi Vijayan

Leader of the Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan said he could not endorse the view that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Communist Party of India (CPI) were at variance, politically and legally, on the issue of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) acting as a tool of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government to harass, intimidate, tarnish and retard political opponents. 

Mr. Vijayan said at a press conference in Kannur that the CPI(M) was not the ED’s sole target. Recently, he said Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had strongly condemned the ED (for allegedly targeting Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi as a politically motivated witch hunt conducted at the BJP’s behest), he said. 

“Non-BJP parties realise the ED’s pernicious rule in Indian politics. If any party has a different opinion, you (journalists) should ask them,” he added. Mr. Vijayan was replying to a journalist who said the CPI appeared not to be echoing the CPI(M)’s sentiment that the ED was targeting the former Chief Minister, his daughter T. Veena, and son-in-law and former Minister Mohamed Riyas for political reasons and with the ulterior motive to retard the LDF alliance. 

When asked by reporters why the CPI was not openly defending Mr. Vijayan at a time when the ED has demanded the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government slap a Prevention of Corruption Act case against the former Chief Minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, the party’s State secretary Binoy Viswam said: “The CPI’s politics dovetails with that of the LDF. There is no variance on larger political questions”. When pressed, Mr. Viswam said the CPI was not fully aware of the ED’s report to the Kerala government seeking Mr. Vijayan’s indictment on corruption charges. “Nevertheless, the LDF will resist as one any Central agency seeking to play politics at the Centre’s behest,” he added.