He was responding to the ED’s latest move involving the CPI(M) leadership and said the agency had made a big mistake by targeting the party. He said the issue now being raised by the ED had already been taken up before the courts by a Congress legislator during the tenure of Pinarayi Vijayan as Chief Minister. The legislator had first approached the Vigilance Court seeking an investigation against Mr. Vijayan and others, but the court rejected the plea. The matter was subsequently taken to the High Court and later to the Supreme Court where the plea was rejected, he said.
Mr. Baby said the Supreme Court had observed that if the complainant had any objectives, it should be pursued politically rather than using the court process. “There is nothing more to say about it. The CPI(M) has already made its position clear,” he said, adding that the party would reject with contempt the "ED’s attempt to target the party leadership.”
‘Double standard’
Mr. Baby also criticised the Congress leadership in Keralam, particularly Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, for attaching importance to the ED action. He said the Congress leaders had adopted a different position when Central investigating agencies targeted their own leaders. “When the ED and other Central agencies move against Congress leaders, they protest, but when the CPI(M) leadership is targeted for particular reasons, they celebrate it,” he said, accusing the Congress of double standard.He referred to the recent action by Central agencies against Ministers in Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, and questioned the Congress leadership’s response to such investigations. Mr. Baby said it would be interesting to know how the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership viewed the “highly inappropriate and uncivilised” approach of the Congress leadership in the State.
