00:00Okay, and joining us now is our newsmaker at the moment, Ramesh Chenithala, the minister,
00:05home minister of Keralam is joining me. Appreciate your joining us, Mr. Chenithala. You've created
00:11a bit of a storm by reopening a case of alleged corruption against Chief Election Commissioner
00:17Gyanesh Kumar when he was serving as the Secretary of State Public Works Department in Keralam
00:23in 2006. 20 years later, 20 years later. Is this not vendetta? Are you not targeting Gyanesh
00:31Kumar? If you had to reopen the case, you were in power from 2011 to 2016. Why didn't
00:37you do it then?
00:41See, now this is not a political vendetta at all. When I become home minister the second
00:48time. Now, within these four months, I received a representation from an activist, Mr. Malayangir
00:56Venagopal. And he came with certain very important facts regarding the irregularities and corrupt
01:03activities involved in a project of MC Road funded by the Sun World Bank. When I go through
01:11the petition, I found that there are certain important informations which has not been taken
01:18into consideration during the previous preliminary inquiry by the VSAB.
01:23Sir, sir, but it is...
01:24Sir, sir, sir, one minute. There was an Achyotananda government. There was your government. You were
01:28minister then, 2011 to 16. You were home minister. Why didn't you do it then? Suddenly you've woken
01:34up after 20 years. People will ask that question, sir.
01:37Sir, sir. No, no, no, no. Crime has no time limit, I am telling you. Investigation has no
01:46time limit. So many Supreme Court verdicts and state high court verdicts are before me. When
01:52I was home minister, there was no such... When Achyotananda was a chief minister, that case
01:59was closed. Now a petition came to us telling that there are other facts which has not been
02:07anchored into. Fresh informations are there. And alleged corruption, corrupt activities of
02:14Janesh Kumar was there. And a Malaysian project engineer, Mr. Lee, committed suicide. In his
02:21suicide note, Janesh Kumar's name was... name is mentioned. Undue delay of files amount to corruption.
02:28And that is why the pressure of this, pressure on this project engineer, he committed suicide
02:36in Kuala, Kuala Lumpur. All these informations were given to us, then I cannot sit in the file.
02:43Sir, sir, sir, sir, but my limited point is all of this was... I cannot be a new spectator on
02:47this. All of this, sir, with due regard was known. Surely the fact that there had been a suicide,
02:53there was a suicide note, there were corruption allegations at the time. But at that time,
02:58in Umant Chandi's government, what happened? Gyanesh Kumar, in fact, there was no sanction
03:06against Gyanesh Kumar. He instead comes as resident commissioner here in Delhi, later on becomes
03:11a secretary to government of India. At that time, none of you raised your voice. People will ask,
03:15sir, is this the Congress party trying to settle scores against Gyanesh Kumar ji?
03:23Not at all. This is not a political vendetta at all. I tell you very frankly that when
03:30lasted 20 years, he is not in Kerala. He was in Delhi of various reasons. I don't want to
03:36go into that details. But when as a home minister of the state, four months before I became home
03:42minister again, second time, when a petition came to me, said, I cannot be a mute spectator.
03:50I have to act on this. There are first allegations, first information.
03:54I take your point, but it sets a very dangerous precedent. Tomorrow, if somebody, if government
03:58changes, will you, how far back will you go to continue to lodge inquiries? Congress party
04:03itself has at times protested against old inquiries being resurrected by the BJP. Now, whether
04:15the BJP government stopped it? They have not stopped it. When in Kerala, we have never resorted
04:21to political vendetta. And we will go by the facts. By this Gyanesh Kumar, when he was PWD
04:29secretary, all these things happened. And a person committed suicide. It's not a small
04:36thing. And why that? It has not been properly inquired at that time. I don't want to go into
04:43that details.
04:43No, sir. I want to know, why was it not inquired? Why was it not inquired? When you were home
04:48minister, when there was a previous left government, when there was a Pinrai Vijayan government, 20
04:52years, you had left governments, Congress governments. Why didn't you investigate Gyanesh Kumar
04:59before then? No, by that time, I was there for minister for only two and a half years. At that
05:05time, the petition was closed, the case was closed. And there was no point in opening the
05:11case because there was no petition before me. I cannot, Sumoto opened that case. I cannot do that. So now,
05:18when I was approached by Mr. Malengate Venugopal with a petition mentioning all these grave charges,
05:25it is my bounden duty to anchor into that. That is why I had given to the Vigilance Anti-Corruption
05:31Bureau. And now they are starting an inquiry.
05:36Sir, but I must ask you, Minister, you are one of the senior most politicians in the country. In fact,
05:40you became an MLA in the 1980s. What about accountability then? Bureaucratic accountability,
05:46a serious allegation involving a major road project, alleged financial irregularities, a
05:52contractor suicide, a vigilance inquiry remains unresolved for 20 years. What does it say about
05:59our system? What does it say about our system? 20 years you are going to take for a vigilance
06:05inquiry? And then reopen it today? No, it has been closed in. The LDF government led by Mr. Achyudar,
06:15that was closed the file. But now we came to know that other certain important relevations,
06:21facts are there. Then it is my duty to anchor into it. That is why I had referred it to
06:27the
06:28Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau of Kerala. Are you serious about this inquiry or is it only to
06:33grab the headline? Are you serious that you will? He is the chief election commissioner of the
06:38country. He has certain immunities. He is a constitutional functionary now. Are you serious
06:43that you are going to prosecute him? No, the point is that now I had given the representation
06:52for the inquiry. Let the inquiry be over and let the report be submitted. Then only all these
06:59questions will come. And one thing is very clear, the chief election commissioner of India's conduct
07:06will be definitely going to be discussed by the people of India. When he was PWD secretary,
07:12what he had done? There are other three cases, Vigilance cases were against him. This is the third
07:18one. Other two cases were closed because of his influence. So such a person has been brought
07:25us as chief election commissioner of India. Let the people of the country know all these
07:29things. Now that's the politics of it. That's the politics when you say that. Nobody was aware
07:35of this. I will ask you one last time. Were you being pushed to do this by the Congress high
07:40command? Is this Ramesh Chanitala, home minister of Kerala, doing this against Gyanesh Kumar because
07:45the high command wants you to target him? Yes or no? Not at all. It is, as a home minister,
07:55it is my duty to anchor into the irregularities and corrupt activities of Mr. Gyanesh Kumar
08:01when he was a minister of the, he was a secretary to the PWD department. Why you are dragging high
08:07command and Rahul Gandhi, all these things? Nothing. Nobody has insisted me to do this. It
08:13is my moral duty to anchor into the details of a petition. Okay. I'm going to leave it
08:19there, Ramesh Chanitala. Good to have you on the show. I appreciate you giving us your
08:24viewpoint. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
