Kerala CM lashes out at ED, charges central agency of trying to destroy KIIFB

PTI, Aug 13, 2022, 6:06 PM IST

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday made a scathing attack on the Enforcement Directorate saying its move against the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the government’s special purpose vehicle (SPV), was to scuttle the development programmes initiated by them and thereby check the progress of the state.

While speaking in a party programme here, he said it was with the funds received through the KIIFB that the development programmes are now implemented in the state.

If the development of the southern state is to be prevented, the KIIFB should be destroyed and it was the objective behind the current move against the agency, Vijayan alleged.

“There is no need to introduce the ED to anyone now. It is trying to prevent the development of the state… The ED’s intention is clear,” he said after inaugurating the party’s new area committee office in the district.

The Chief Minister’s criticism against the central investigating agency comes in the wake of a recent notice issued by them to former state finance minister T M Thomas Isaac in connection with its probe into alleged violations in the financial dealings of KIIFB, the primary agency of the state government for financing large and critical infrastructure projects.

The ED’s move against the KIIFB has set the stage for a political slugfest in Kerala with the Left and Congress questioning the central agency’s action, while the BJP termed the two rival fronts as “birds of a feather”.

Vijayan said when the Left government had revived the KIIFB, the opposition had mocked it as a daydream.

When it was said the Rs 50,000 crore would be pooled through the KIIFB, the Congress-led UDF opposed it but as much as Rs 62,000 crore had been found through the agency after five years.

So, the effort was now to ruin that KIIFB, the Chief Minister charged.

Alleging that the opposition Congress and the BJP were united in scuttling Kerala’s development, he asked whether the Centre was planning the development of the country excluding the southern state.

These all were done to prevent the development of the state during the tenure of the Left government, he further charged and warned that if the mindset continues, the state could not advance even an inch.

However, the Chief Minister reasserted that no matter what the objections being raised by the opposition, the LDF government would not backtrack from its stand on development.