Ruckus in Kerala Assembly as Congress rakes up issue of 'fraud' by CPM leader's son

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly on Thursday witnessed ruckus as the Opposition Congress strongly took up the issue of alleged fraud committed by CPM state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son in Dubai.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, raising the issue on the floor of the House, slammed the ruling Left party’s “lavish style of living”. [caption id=“attachment_4312869” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “It’s very strange and surprising that while the CPM special plenum clearly pointed out that Communists should live very modestly, and we recently saw the party ousting an MP because he was using an expensive pen and an iPhone. But today we hear of this fraud done by the CPM state secretary’s son, which has become a cause of shame for the Kerala diaspora. We demand a probe by the state government,” said Chennithala. The treasury benches stood up and tried to shout down Chennithala, but were strongly countered by the Opposition bench legislators. The chaos was over a media report alleging that Binoy Balakrishnan, the son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, had committed Rs 13 crore fraud with a Dubai-based company. A three-page letter, dated 5 January, from HIA Al Marzooqi, sponsor of the Dubai company which was made available to the media states that he has started legal procedures against Binoy for the alleged fraud. The issue has become the cause of a major headache for the CPM in Kerala. However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has shot down the demand for a probe stating that “these are only news reports”. “These are nothing but baseless allegations and no probe can be undertaken,” said Vijayan. In no mood to give up, Chennithala said “As per the letter written by the complainant who has been cheated of Rs 13 crore they have sought a probe by the Interpol to extradite the son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, and it’s surprising that the state government is not prepared to undertake at least a fact-finding probe.” Vijayan stood his ground and rejected the demand for a probe, after which Chennithala staged a walk out with the entire opposition. State BJP general secretary AN Radhakrishnan told the media on Thursday that they have demanded a probe by the Enforcement Department and a complaint has been sent. In the letter, the BJP has demanded that a probe is necessary against the alleged business dealings of the two sons of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The party has also said that the channel of transferring the Rs 13 crore should be checked as it could have come through the hawala way. Marzooqi, the complainant, is reported to have reached Delhi early this week and is meeting various people. He is expected to reach the Kerala capital to pursue the matter. CPM politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai told the media that the party has no role in this case. “This is an issue between two parties who are into business, and this happened in Dubai. Our party has no role in it to take a decision,” said Pillai.