Kerala govt 'seriously considering' revoking CBI's consent 'to protect state's interest'

The Kerala government is 'seriously considering' to withdraw the general consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the state's law minister A K Balan informed, hinting at the possibility of Kerala joining the growing list of Opposition-ruled states that have either withdrawn the general consent or have threatened to do so.

The Kerala government's statement of intent to block the CBI comes at a time when the spotlight is on CM Pinarayi Vijayan-led UDF government in the Life Mission project case and the same issue has been cited as the immediate trigger for the move to revoke general consent for the CBI, with the UDF upset over the central agency probing into the case without informing the state government.  

"The state is seriously considering it. Many states have already withdrawn consent. There are allegations that the agency is being used to settle political scores. Many states do complain that it is interfering in issues where it has no jurisdiction. We also want to protect the state's interests," said state law minister A K Balan

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If Kerala withdraws consent, then it would be following Maharashtra where the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government withdrew consent shorty after the CBI took up the probe in the fraud TRP case after being requested by the Uttar Pradesh government. 

The Opposition in Kerala has criticised the move, with both the Congress and the BJP alleging that the ruling government was trying to save itself by attempting to block the CBI. 

"Even a child can make out that huge corruption took place in the Life Mission project. The government is using all means to prevent a central agency probe which will help unravel kickbacks," State opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said. 

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Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan also criticised the move. "CM Pinarayi Vijayan is scared the truth will come out but people will realise the government's designs," he said. He also alleged that the move was to hide the 'rampant corruption' of the Left government.

The Life Mission project case

The opposition has alleged that there was corruption in the selection of the contractor by Red Crescent, an international humanitarian organisation and that Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling case, had allegedly admitted before an NIA court to having received Rs one crore as commission from the project. Red Crescent had allegedly agreed to provide Rs 20 crore funds towards the Life Mission scheme. Life Mission had submitted before the court that the two companies which had signed an agreement with Red Crescent do not come under categories of persons prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution under an act of the FCRA. 

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(With PTI inputs)