Charge against VS goes to CPI(M) Central panel

V.S. Achuthanandan

Achuthanandan denies having interfered with SNC-Lavalin probe

The CPI(M) State committee is understood to have left to the party Central committee the question whether an inquiry should be held into the allegation that V.S. Achuthanandan had tried to turn events in the SNC-Lavalin case against party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.

The State committee, which concluded its two-day session here on Thursday, took the decision on the basis of a report submitted by Central committee member P. Karunakaran after conducting an inquiry into the allegations raised by Mr. Achuthanandan’s former private secretary S. Rajendran. The inquiry was instituted as sought by Mr. Achuthanandan.

Mr. Rajendran’s allegation was that as Chief Minister, Mr. Achuthanandan had made several moves to trap Mr. Vijayan in the Lavalin case. As part of this, he had met former Supreme Court Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Supreme Court judge H.L. Dattu, and former Kerala High Court Chief Justice V.K. Bali. He had done all this with the help of T.G. Nandakumar and that he (Mr. Rajendran) was a witness to all these.

Mr. Karunakaran’s report was considered by the two-day CPI(M) State secretariat meeting, but the general view reportedly was not to turn the issue into a controversy. However, the party secretariat was of the view that the allegation that Mr. Achuthanandan had sought external help to trap the party State secretary in the Lavalin case should be put before the Central committee of which the Leader of the Opposition is a member.

Reacting late Thursday evening to news reports about the State committee’s deliberations in this regard, Mr. Achuthanandan said the people would reject such reports with contempt. A CBI investigation was on into the Lavalin case and it was ridiculous to say that he had interfered with the investigation, Mr. Achuthanandan said.

The CPI(M) State committee rejected the allegations of sexual demeanours against the unit managers of party organ Deshabhimani in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi and decided to seek an explanation from J. Mercykutty Amma, who had raised the allegation against K. Varadarajan, the unit manager in Thiruvananthapuram. A two-member panel that had gone into the allegation against him had found that there was a conspiracy behind the charge.

The State committee meeting also endorsed the party State secretariat’s decision to reinstate former Idukki district secretary M.M. Mani, who was suspended from the committee for six months for his controversial speech on May 25 last year.