Chengannur (Kerala), Sep 9 (IANS): Kerala’s Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday burst out at media persons in his typical manner as they persistently posed questions on the Enforcement Directorate’s latest move against him and his family.
“Are you going to come to the bathroom with me?” he retorted as reporters gathered around him at the Kallissery PWD Rest House here.
It was Vijayan’s first public appearance before the media after the ED forwarded its findings and supporting material to the state police chief under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, seeking registration of a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other applicable laws against him, his daughter T. Veena and son-in-law and MLA P.A. Mohammed Riyas, among others.
Vijayan stopped at the rest house around noon while travelling to Changancherry.
A group of media personnel was waiting at the portico when he stepped out of his official car.
The reporters closed in and posed the key question, but Vijayan remained mum.
He walked into the state-owned rest house, with reporters following and putting the same question to him a few more times.
It was only when he was about to enter a room that a visibly angry Vijayan turned back and made his curt retort. “I came here not to meet you,” he added.
There was also no response when he emerged from the rest house and got into his vehicle.
He then left for Changancherry.
Vijayan was also slated to address a party meeting in Alappuzha district.
Vijayan’s reluctance to engage with the media is hardly new.
During his decade as Chief Minister, he scrapped the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing, a practice followed for several decades.
His approach was clear: he would speak when he chose to, rather than when the media wanted him to.
That style has produced several memorable exchanges over the years.
A video that went viral in July 2017 showed Vijayan angrily asking media personnel to get out as he arrived for a meeting with BJP-RSS leaders in Thiruvananthapuram.
Nine years later, the setting has changed, but the answer, this time, was unmistakably vintage Vijayan.
