Ker CM rejects opposition leader's corruption charges over

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday rejected corruption allegations levelled by the Congress against his government in awarding the contract of transgrid projects being implemented by the Kerala State Electricity Board.

Vijayan's reaction came a day after Oppositon leader Ramesh Chennithala posed 10 questions to Vijayan on the alleged irregularities regarding theKerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB)-assisted projects.

He alleged that Chennithala was trying to create a "smokescreen' by raising "baseless" allegations against the government as bypolls to five assembly constituencies were round the corner.

Vijayan also refuted the congress leader's allegation that the government was not allowing the CAG to audit KIIFB projects.

"The fact is that CAG officials were auditing the KIIFB accounts whenthe opposition was repeatedly saying auditing was not being allowed there," the chief minister said in a release.

He also gave a detailed reply to the 10 questions raised by Chennithala.

Replying to a question, the chief minister said the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had not registered any case or conducted any "quick verification" on the projects.

Based on some complaint,VACB officials in Palakkad had collected information from some officials in 2016, but had not found any irregularities and so no case had been registered in this regard, he said.

Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac had also on Sunday rejected the opposition leader's allegations against KIIFB and the transgrid projects.