Probe against Vijayan's daughter's IT firm: Congress asks Kerala CM to step down

THRISSUR: The Opposition Congress on Sunday attacked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the SFIO probe into an IT firm owned by his daughter and demanded his resignation, citing the investigation.

Recently, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed a petition filed by now-defunct IT firm Exalogic, which was run by Vijayan's daughter Veena T, against the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe into its affairs.

Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan alleged that crores of rupees went to Vijayan's daughter's firm while he was chief minister.

"He is not eligible to remain as chief minister. He should resign and stay away until the probe is over. The chief minister should explain the funds flow to his daughter's firm which was not providing any sort of service (in exchange for the payments)," Satheesan told the media here.

Alluding to an alleged deal between the ruling party in the state and the one at the Centre, Satheesan claimed that the union government's decision to give eight months' time for the SFIO to complete the probe was to facilitate a deal between the CPI(M) and the BJP.

Meanwhile, after the Karnataka High Court verdict was pronounced, KPCC President K Sudhakaran commented that the CPI(M) leaders who used to justify Vijayan have now gone silent.

"The support for Pinarayi Vijayan has gone down in CPI(M) after the Karnataka High Court order. Those leaders who earlier used to justify the chief minister are now silent," Sudhakaran claimed.

The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs had asked the SFIO to investigate the company.

Earlier this month, the Kerala High Court had declined to stay the SFIO probe into state-run KSIDC, Exalogic and Kochi-based minerals company CMRL.