Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 13 (IANS) Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday accused the Congress of delaying legal action against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to protect him from an investigation into alleged hawala transactions initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED had directed the Kerala Police Chief Ravada Azad Chandrasekhar to register a case last month.
BJP leader Chandrasekhar alleged that the Congress was adopting double standards and that its actions raised suspicions of a political understanding with the CPI-M.
He questioned the four-day delay in registering an FIR against Vijayan after the Kerala High Court ordered the state government to act on the allegations.
The state government registered the FIR four days after the court issued its order.
Vijayan filed an appeal in the High Court within half an hour of the FIR being registered, BJP leader Chandrasekhar said.
He asked whether the delay was intended to give Vijayan time to approach the court.
The BJP leader said the Congress had initially maintained that it would not engage in political vendetta and would follow the law when the Special Investigation Team (SIT) began its probe.
He alleged that the Kerala government’s handling of the case had raised questions about its intentions.
BJP leader Chandrasekhar also questioned the progress of the investigation.
“Seventeen days had passed since the SIT was formed, but there was no clarity on the steps taken by the team,” he said.
He claimed that the law allowed a maximum of 14 days for a preliminary inquiry and asked what the SIT had done during that period.
The BJP leader also alleged that the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) feared that the investigation could extend to alleged hawala transactions and some members of the Congress-led Cabinet.
He accused the Congress of putting its political interests ahead of legal action and said the party and the CPI-M had become allies in Kerala as well as at the national level.
–IANS
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