The offensive being carried out by a section of Congress leaders in Kerala against a particular judge of the High Court for making some scathing observations against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his office in the fraud land deal case of his ex-gunman Salim Raj has widened the rift in the party and the UDF led by it.
A strong section in the UDF feels that it is improper for responsible leaders to make abusive statements against the Judiciary when unfavourable verdicts are pronounced. “We have so far been saying that the CPI(M) is intolerant of the Judiciary. What difference is there between them and us nowIJ” asked a senior leader of the Kerala Congress (M), an ally of the Congress.
The dispute in the Congress and the UDF is over the adverse remarks made by certain Congress leaders and a complaint lodged with the Chief Justice of India by a party MlA against Justice Haroon Al Rashid who on March 28 had made some scathing remarks against Chandy and his office while passing judgement in the sensational land fraud case of Salim Raj.
Many Congress leaders are of the opinion that “the party need not shoulder the blame for the faults of one individual (Chandy)”. They say that Chandy has never been in the habit of discussing anything related to his office or the persons he had appointed as aides and it is solely up to him to deal with the criticisms coming in from the Judiciary and people over such matters.
While ordering a CBI probe into the fraudulent land deals carried out by Salim Raj, Justice Rashid had leveled criticisms like the Chief Minister had not been prudent in selecting his personal staff members, there were criminal elements in Chandy’s office, it had failed to remain a model institution, etc. A division bench later stayed two of these remarks.
Close on the heels of Congress’s Minister KC Joseph criticising the judge for his observations against Chandy and his office by saying that “judges are not supposed to air opinions on all matters under the sky”, party MlA TN Prathapan petitioned the CJI against the judge with a statement that his remarks had become poll-time political tool in the hands of the Opposition.
The Congress as a party has distanced itself from Prathapan’s act of lodging a complaint with the CJI against Justice Rashid though sources pointed out that a strong section supported it. Among the leaders who support the offensive against the judge is Rajmohan Unnithan, who demanded that the judge be impeached.
State Congress president VM Sudheeran made it clear the other day that he did not approve of what Prathapan, known as a loyalist of the Chief Minister in the rampant group war in the party, had done. He also said that he was in agreement with the judge on the principle that extreme care should be shown when ministers selected members of their personal staff.
“I don’t blame Prathapan. He is such a poor soul that he is ignorant of the laws of the land. It may be because he comes from the poor fishermen’s background,” said Government Chief Whip PC George who in September, 2011 had carried out an offensive against Special Vigilance Judge PK Haneefa after he ordered a probe against Chandy in the palm oil corruption case.
The HC judge’s remarks against Chandy and his loyalists’ angry response to Justice Rashid have led to the intensification of the group war within the Congress which weakened after Sonia Gandhi appointed group-neutral leader Sudheeran as State party chief to end factionalism.