THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ignored a challenge thrown by P. C. George on the Halcyon Castle issue in the Assembly on Wednesday.
Mr George, raising a submission on the issue, said that there was a rumour that a close relative of the Chief Minister was provided a job by Ravi Pillai, the industrialist to whom Halcyon Castle has now been handed over. He wanted the Chief Minister to clear the air.
Mr George submission on the handover of Halcyon Castle to Ravi Pillai Group was ruthless. He termed it the biggest corruption scandal of the LDF Government, and repeatedly referred to Ravi Pillai as the “bandit from Kollam”. George but packaged the thorny charge against the Chief Minister in velvet. “I personally verified truth about the rumour and have found it to be preposterous,” Mr George said. “But still the Chief Minister owes it to the public to refute such rumours,” he added.
As if it was not just enough to give Mr Vijayan a clean chit, George hinted that it was another top CPM leader who was behind the handover. Addressing the Chief Minister, he said: “I know you have not received any favour from this bandit. But there is another person, and his family, who has, and I don’t want to mention his name here.”
The Chief Minister, who did not look provoked and did not address George's charge directly, began his reply with a loaded statement. “When P. C. George began he said that he was not going to delve deep into the issue. But now it seems he has told all that was needed to be told. Can anyone go any deeper than this,” he said. Then, he formally read out the chronology of events, including the setbacks the government had received from the courts, that finally led to his government handing over the Castle to RP Group.
