Vijayan Calls ED Probe a Joint BJP‑Congress Play

At a press conference in Kannur on September 12, Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, raised an eyebrow‑raising point: the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) push to link him to the CMRL‑Exalogic payoff case might not be a routine anti‑corruption drive at all, but a carefully choreographed political stunt.

Vijayan, who leads the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the state, suggested that the centre‑run BJP and the state‑level United Democratic Front (UDF) – the Congress‑led opposition – were moving in lockstep. “It feels like a shared agenda,” he said, hinting that the two rivals were using the ED as a common weapon to undermine each other.

He reminded the audience that non‑BJP parties, especially the Congress, have often accused the ED of being a “cat’s paw” for the central government, wielded to intimidate and harass political opponents. High‑profile figures such as Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have previously found themselves on the ED’s radar, reinforcing that perception.

What struck many as contradictory, Vijayan noted, was the enthusiastic backing the Congress in Kerala seemed to give to the very same ED raids aimed at CPI(M) leaders. “In Kerala, Congress leaders appear to cheer the ED’s attempts to pin the case on us,” he observed, adding a note of irony to the political tableau.

He also pointed out that the courts – the Vigilance Court, the Kerala High Court and even the Supreme Court – have already dismissed the ED’s core allegation. The allegation was that, during his previous stint as chief minister under the LDF, he had allegedly used his office’s weight to help CMRL, a chemical firm with a minority stake held by the Kerala government, channel illicit profits to Exalogic, a now‑defunct software consultancy.

Vijayan concluded by urging the public to look beyond the headlines and ask who really benefits when an anti‑corruption agency appears to be part of a larger political chess game. “The real question is not just about the money, but about why the narrative is being pushed now and by whom,” he said.