Kochi, April 11 : With trouble looming for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after his daughter Veena Vijayan's now defunct IT firm Exalogic is on the radar of a few central agencies, state CPI-M Secretary M.V. Govindan on Friday said this was nothing but a conspiracy targeting the Chief Minister.

"The party is strongly behind the Chief Minister against whom this witchhunt, unleashed by agencies, a section of the media, and a few political parties, is going on. We will fight this politically," Govindan asserted.

"I wish to ask what happened to the gold smuggling case, when similar allegations came thick and fast. There was such a hue and cry that was made by many over it... finally, today, no one even talks of it. There is a deep-rooted conspiracy right now going and we, the CPI-M, will be lock, stock, and barrel with the Chief Minister," he added.

No sooner had Govindan finished his press conference, the news surfaced that a court in Kochi, where where the SFIO had filed its charge sheet against the illegal deal between Exalogic and Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL), had accepted it, and a case was formally registered, after the court had a detailed examination of the charge sheet.

The SFIO has, by now, found out that Veena Vijayan's IT firm had allegedly received a monthly gratification of around Rs 2.70 crores from the CMRL for mining sanctions.

Vijayan had recently reportedly lost his cool when the media asked a flurry of questions about his daughter, and he responded curtly by saying: "You (media) want my blood, but will not get it easily."

However, on the other hand, the CPI state Secretary Binoy Viswam on Friday made it very clear that his party sees the case of Veena Vijayan as one which she will have to deal with herself, while they will stand behind Vijayan.

Even with the SFIO now registering its charge sheet and the court registering it and the ED applying through the proper channel for a copy of it, Vijayan is in a tough spot, and the only saving grace at the moment is that the party is strongly behind him.

/IANS