Supreme Court Stay in CMRL Case Brings Relief to Pinarayi Vijayan, Sets Back Ruling UDF and Congress

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court’s stay on the vigilance probe in the CMRL case has come as a huge relief for former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. For the ruling UDF, however, the SC decision has come as a major setback and is likely to trigger further infighting in the Congress which has already been witnessing differences over the government’s stand in the matter. The SC verdict would also be a temporary relief for Pinarayi in the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) case, though the agency has ruled this out. The ED had summoned the leader of opposition for interrogation on Friday. However, there were indications Pinarayi would skip it citing the ongoing assembly session. Now, with the SC taking an adverse position in the vigilance case—and Pinarayi’s lawyer stating that the CPM veteran will not appear before the agency in the wake of the verdict—the ED may keep the interrogation on hold for now. There are reports that the agency is planning to wait for the Kerala High Court’s final decision before moving further. The CPM leadership welcomed the verdict. “The verdict is a setback for the (Narendra) Modi-VD-ED nexus. It (the case) is part of a political witch-hunt that has been going on in other states. The SC verdict should be viewed as a validation of CPM’s stand that such cases would be dealt with legally and politically. The verdict is also a setback for the Congress in Keralam and Chief Minister V D Satheesan both of whom have been supporting central agencies run by the Sangh Parivar,” said CPM central committee member K N Balagopal. Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who has been pursuing the case against Pinarayi, said the order was of a more technical nature rather than based on the case’s merits.