ALAPPUZHA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State unit president P.K. Krishnadas has demanded that the Achuthanandan Government leave office because of the Kerala High Court judgment on Tuesday ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the SNC Lavalin corruption case.

At a meet-the-press programme of the Press Club here on Tuesday, Mr. Krishnadas said, "As the former Power Minister and CPI (M) [Communist Party of India-Marxist] State secretary Pinaryi Vijayan is under a cloud of suspicion in the SNC Lavalin issue, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau should remove him from the post of party State secretary," he said.

Mr. Krishnadas said the Polit Bureau should immediately clarify its stand.

The Government had brought leading Supreme Court lawyers to argue that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should not be entrusted with the investigation.

Mr. Vijayan or the CPI(M) State committee should deposit the huge amount spent as charges for the lawyers to the exchequer.

Mr. Krishnadas said the CPI(M) cadres should think if they should suffer the humiliation of being led by a corrupt leadership.

He said the State would suffer a loss of Rs. 7.69 crore if the agreement signed by the Government with the Asian Development Bank for the development of five city corporations was cancelled.

The Ministers who signed the agreement or the CPI(M) State committee should repay the amount to the Government.

`No discussions held'

Mr. Krishnadas said the Government had signed the agreement without discussing the issue in the Cabinet or informing the Chief Minister. The public were kept in the dark.

He said the law and order situation in the State had deteriorated. Mediapersons and political opponents were being attacked by CPI(M) cadres to silence opposition. The recent attack on journalists at Muhamma in Mararikkulam constituency, which, he alleged, was by CPI(M) leaders, was an effort to gag freedom of expression.

On arms haul

Mr. Krishnadas demanded that the Government entrust a Central agency with the investigation of the recent arms haul in the State.

There were efforts to subvert investigation into the smuggling of air guns and pistols.

He said anti-national forces were behind the thriving illegal arms trade, and the State had become a haven for terrorists.

The CPI(M) had accepted help of many fundamentalist groups in the State during the previous elections, and so, the Government was going soft on the arms recovery issue.

On `Janapaksham'

On a meeting organised by the BJP leader K. Raman Pillai at Kochi, Mr. Krishnadas said he did not think that the former would work against the party.

Mr. Pillai was a senior party leader and he respected him, he said.

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