Efforts to defame me on for long, now my family members are also dragged in: Kerala CM

Responding to the questions on the recent allegations against his daughter Veena Vijayan, the Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that a section of the media has been trying to pull him down for long

Thiruvananthapuram: Accusing the opposition parties and the media of trying to ‘defame’ him, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that there have been attempts to target him personally for a long time and now his family members are also dragged in an attempt to tarnish his image.

Responding to the questions on the recent allegations against his daughter Veena Vijayan, the chief minister said that a section of the media has been trying to pull him down for long.

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Opposition parties recently levelled corruption charges over the alleged financial dealings between the chief minister’s daughter Veena Vijayan’s firm and a Kochi-based minerals company.

The charges were raised based on a recent ruling of the New Delhi bench of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board that the money was given to her firm considering the relationship with a “prominent person”.

“You know I am not a person who is going to be bowed down by all this.. you try, we can continue that,” the chief minister said in a harsh tone to one of the mediapersons.

He accused a section of media of only parroting the version of the Central agency and unsuccessfully trying to substantiate their point of view.

“I can understand your (media’s) pain… When society is not supporting your efforts and believe your stories, I can understand the pain you get…I can only sympathise,” Vijayan said.

He said none of the factors that came out in the report against his daughter were hidden from any accounts and accused a section of the media of only propagating that.

“A professional agency would only involve a person against whom they have charges. Why should they drag a relative into the case? So it is evident that their aim was not the person involved but to somehow target me,” the chief minister further said.

He said all the factors in the report were mentioned in the account books of both companies and everything has been done as per the laws demanded by the companies.

The chief minister said he had replied to this clearly in the assembly as well.