Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan says firm’s stocks going into free fall signals BJP’s decline

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, (PTI): In a veiled attack on the BJP, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the tumbling stocks of a conglomerate is the beginning of the political fall of those in power at the Centre.

Avoiding naming any company, Vijayan, replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the State Assembly said the Centre and the business group were like ‘Siamese twins’ at this time of ‘crony capitalism’.

The Chief Minister alleged that the ‘business group’ was the ‘money power’ of the ruling party at the Centre and it is collapsing now. Many media groups were ‘purchased’ and the rest were silenced through intimidation using the money of that group, he claimed.

”Then came the revelation of an American research institute. The downfall of that group in the stock market is the beginning of the political fall of those in power at the Centre,” Vijayan said.

The system through which money was pumped to ‘purchase’ MLAs and ‘change’ State administrations and to make BJP win general elections is collapsing, he further alleged.

”This will affect the rule (at the Centre). Many partnership deals will be exposed,” the Chief Minister added.

Vijayan’s statement comes against the backdrop of rout in shares of the Adani Group following the Hindenburg report.

In his address, the Chief Minister lamented that the basic structure of the country like secular values and the federal system are facing ‘extraordinary challenges’.

The cornerstone of the federal system is the Constitutional division of power between the Centre and the States, he said.

But the Union government’s enactment of legislations on the subjects falling under the State and Concurrent lists of the Constitution is the indication of an ‘undemocratic trend”, he added.

Targeting the opposition Congress and the BJP in the State, Vijayan said both parties were united in scuttling Kerala’s development.

On the economic front, he said the policies of both the BJP and the Congress were the same and the Saffron party is implementing with more vigour the policies initiated by the nation’s grand old party.

Vijayan accused the Congress of joining hands with the BJP against the State’s ambitious projects including Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board (KIIFB), Silver Line, Life Mission and Kerala Bank. Both the parties shared the same opinion in the case of national highway development as well, he said.