‘Would new Kerala CM connive at this?’: Shashi Tharoor rejects CPM charge linking Congress to ED raids on Vijayan
The exchange came after Brittas criticised the ED raids conducted at multiple locations linked to Vijayan and his family.
shashi tharoor-vijayan Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday hit back at CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas for alleging that the Congress leadership had encouraged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) case.
In a statement posted on X, Tharoor dismissed Brittas’s allegation and said, “John, there is absolutely no evidence in support of your last sentence. The Congress government has begun its governance in a spirit of conciliation, with the outgoing CM given a place of honour at the swearing-in. The new CM (VD Satheesan) visited Pinarayi Vijayan’s home and paid his personal respects. Do you think he would connive at something like this? And from what you have seen of the Union government, do you really think they take their lead from any opposition party, in or out of the state government?”
. John, there is absolutely no evidence in support of your last sentence. @INCKerala has begun its governance in a spirit of conciliation, with the outgoing CM given a place of honour at the swearing-in. The new CM visited @pinarayivijayan’s home and paid his personal respects.…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 27, 2026
The exchange came after Brittas criticised the ED raids conducted at multiple premises, including those linked to Vijayan. Calling the searches a “brazen misuse of central agencies”, Brittas accused the BJP-led Union government of targeting political opponents through investigative agencies.
“Com Pinarayi n CPIM not be cowed down by these undemocratic tactics. CPIM fight back resolutely with the support of the people to defend democracy. It is clear that the Congress leadership actively encouraged the ED to target him, just as they did in the case of Arvind Kejriwal,” Brittas alleged in his statement.
Stronglycondemn the brazen ED raids on senior leader and former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
This is yet another example of the systematic misuse of central agencies to harass and target political opponents. Such vindictive actions expose the authoritarian mindset.…— John Brittas (@JohnBrittas) May 27, 2026
ED raids ex-Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s house
The ED conducted searches at 10 locations across Kerala and Bengaluru as part of its money laundering probe into alleged illegal payments made by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited to Exalogic Solutions, an IT firm owned by Vijayan’s daughter Veena T.
The searches covered Vijayan’s rented residence in Thiruvananthapuram, his house in Pinarayi in Kannur district, the residence of his son-in-law and Kerala minister Muhammed Riyas in Kozhikode, and properties linked to senior CMRL executives, including managing director Sasidharan Kartha.
The case stems from an Income Tax Department investigation in 2023, which alleged that CMRL paid around Rs 1.72 crore to Exalogic Solutions between 2017-18 and 2018-19 for software development and consultancy services that were allegedly never provided. Based on the findings, the ED initiated a money laundering investigation into the financial transactions.
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