It is an accepted fact that there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics. But can a politician ever develop friendly relationship with another who had ensured his imprisonment in a corruption case after hounding him relentlessly through various courts for a quarter of a centuryIJ
However, this is what seems to be happening in Kerala right now with former Minister R Balakrishna Pillai, chairman of the Kerala Congress (B) party and disputably a founder leader of the Congress-led ruling UDF, and VS Achuthanandan, Opposition leader in the State Assembly who had hounded Pillai through various courts over 25 years in a graft case.
On Thursday, Pillai, who till recently used to publicly curse the Opposition leader for ensuring that he was put in jail for a year in the graft case, even went to the extent of saying that he would feel proud if Achuthanandan had invited him to the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF. “In politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends,” he said.
Pillai’s statement on Thursday followed a statement made by Achuthanandan two days ago. The nonagenarian CPI(M) central committee member had said, “If Pillai comes forward to fight corruption, we (the lDF) will take decisions on the basis of what he says and does.” Given the relationship between the two, Keralites had never expected him to say something like this.
Whether Pillai can forget the past, forgive Achuthanandan and join the lDF is for the time being a matter of speculation. Pillai is still a part of the Congress-led UDF. However, analysts tend not to rule out such a possibility considering the kind of hostility existing between Pillai’s party and the UDF – especially Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
The UDF had held a meeting on Wednesday to consider expelling Pillai from it over the allegation he leveled in a telephone conversation – and not publicly – that Finance Minister KM Mani was in the habit of taking bribes and that he had collected a minimum of Rs23 crore as bribe from bar owners, gold merchants and rice mill owners.
However, certain sudden adverse developments restrained the UDF from expelling the Kerala Congress (B) but instead it asked Pillai to “correct mistakes” and not to repeat such allegations. Pillai reacted furiously to the instruction, saying mistakes were committed by the UDF and Chandy and it was up to them to behave properly.
“The mistakes I committed as part of the UDF had started the day I began taking pains to make this man (Chandy) the Chief Minister,” Pillai said, adding that his party would continue to be in the UDF but would not attend any of its meetings. He also said that Mani was not the only Minister in the UDF Cabinet with the habit of taking bribes.
Chandy said on Thursday that Pillai could leave the UDF if he so wished but if he wanted to continue in the front, he would have to be cautious about his statements. But Pillai seemed to be in no mood to listen to Chandy as he reiterated that he would not withdraw the allegations made against Mani and certain other Ministers.
The Supreme Court had in February, 2011 sentenced Pillai to one-year imprisonment in the Idamalayar case concerning corruption in the repair of a hydroelectric power project in 1982 when he was Power Minister. It was Achuthanandan who had taken up the case in courts whenever there was an impression that it was getting feeble.