Obviously, the party has crafted the new stratagem, having failed to succeed in its earlier attempt to ensure the intervention of the Modi Government and the BJP’s central leadership against the Pinarayi Vijayan Government in the name of rising violence against the BJP cadres across the state.

The BJP had hoped that repeated complaints and memoranda to the State Governor would automatically lead to central intervention. However, the party’s hopes have been dashed to the ground on that count with the Governor refusing to play the BJP game.

This backdrop explains the latest attempt – through the legal route - to harass the LDF Government. As part of the new strategy, the BJP has decided to initiate legal action against both Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) State Secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The legal action against Vijayan and Additional Chief secretary(Revenue and Disaster management) is over the order sanctioning Rs 8 lakh from the State Disaster Response Fund(SDRF) for the helicopter journey of the Chief Minister from Thrissur to Thiruvananthapuram and back.

The party has initiated legal action under Section 60 of the Disaster Management Act 2005. The crux of the BJP’s case is that by issuing to meet the expenses of hiring a helicopter for a return trip from Thrissur where he was attending a CPI(M) conference on December 26, from the SDRF, the Chief Minister has committed an offence under Section 53 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 by appropriating the fund for his own use. He has also willfully compelled his subordinate PH Kurien to appropriate the amount making him also liable in the offence.

The BJP’s complaint further states that under Section 60 of the Disaster management Act, one can approach the court only after giving notice of not less than 30 days about the offence to the competent authority. If the Government fails to take action on the basis of the notice, the party will move the High Court or the Supreme Court.

This is nothing but an unabashed attempt to harass the Chief Minister. The CM has not committed any legal offence, according to legal experts. When it came to his notice that the Additional Revenue Secretary issued the so-called controversial orders, under instructions from the then Chief Secretary, KM Abraham, the CM promptly asked him not to take the amount from the SDRF. According to Abraham, there is nothing wrong for the fund to be taken from SDRF as 25 per cent of the funds belong to the state and it can be used for meeting the CM’s travel expenses. But the CM insisted that the amount should be taken only from the administrative fund which takes care of the CM’s travel expenses. This being the reality, the BJP’s move for legal action is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt, say CPI(M) leaders.

Likewise, the State BJP leaders are targeting Kodiyeri by filing a police complaint against him for his so-called pro-China speech he made the other day.

BJP Thiruvananthapuram district president Suresh has approached State police chief Loknath Behra with a complaint that Kodiyeri’s speech at the Alappuzha district conference of the CPI(M), amounted to sedition and therefore, a case must be filed against him for openly speaking against the country!

The BJP leaders claim Kodiyeri’s remark came closely on the heels of Army chief’s statement that the country was facing increased threats from China. The statement of Kodiyeri amounts to mockery of the Indian Army. The fact that the statement came from a person who served as Home Minister of the state and is at present an MLA doubles the gravity of the offence, BJP leaders point out.

Kodiyeri had claimed that India had joined other capitalist countries like the US, Japan and Australia in unleashing an attack on China. The capitalist countries had intensified the attack against China after the Chinese Communist Party asserted that it would not allow other countries to intervene in its internal affairs.

The BJP’s sinister game has already drawn heavy flak. The move has been exposed for what it actually is: a determined effort to destabilize the LDF Government on flimsy grounds and ensure its ouster. CPI(M) and other LDF leaders have dismissed the BJP move with the contempt it deserves. (IPA Service)