The Left Government in Kerala faced a huge setback as M. Sivasankar, former principal secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was taken into custody by ED today after the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in the gold smuggling case.
Sivasankar was taken into custody by ED officials from an ayurvedic centre in the state capital, where he has been undergoing treatment.
Rejecting the bail plea, the court said though ED has not concluded to make him an accused, it has given strong indications that the applicant may be involved in money laundering with Swapna Suresh, the main accused in the gold smuggling case, using the diplomatic channel.
Though it is still not known whether Sivasankar would be let go after the questioning or whether he would be arrested, the episode has certainly put the Left government in a tight spot. As Sivasankar, once the most powerful bureaucrat in the CMO, was a personal choice of the CM, he will have to do a lot of explaining on the matter both within and outside the party. Though he was ousted soon after his name cropped up in the gold smuggling case, CM Vijayan and the CPI(M) had been facing a lot of flak over the issue in the past few months.
Now, with the ED taking him into custody, the opposition has got a powerful case to attack the government. Both the Congress and BJP have already hit the streets demanding Vijayan's resignation. “Pinarayi Vijayan has no moral right to remain as CM now that his most trusted officer has been detained in the gold smuggling case,” said Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala. BJP leader and Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan, too, has demanded the CM's resignation.
But the Left leaders countered this by saying that the state government cannot be held responsible for the ill-doings of IAS officers. “If the official has done something wrong, he will have to pay for it. We will never protect him. How is the government to be held responsible for the private lives of IAS officials,'' asked Law Minister A.K. Balan. He pointed out that the official was suspended the very day the case made news.
But the fact that Vijayan had tried to protect Sivasankar every time he was caught in controversies, augurs ill for the government and particularly for the CM. “There are no legal allegations against Sivasankar. But, in the public domain, there are a number of remarks against him in connection with a woman. Therefore, it’s not right that such a person continues to sit in the chief minister’s office. The state government is not burdened to protect any culprit,” the chief minister had said while announcing the decision to suspend Sivasankar.
The situation will get worse for the Left in case Sivasankar gets arrested in the gold smuggling case. With Panchayat elections round the corner, the issue is bound to get hotter in the coming days.