The Kerala BJP on Monday announced readiness to cooperate at the local level with the Kerala Congress (M) headed by KM Mani, who had resigned last week as Finance and law minister over the infamous bar bribery scandal in which he was accused of taking `1 crore as bribe from bar owners. KC(M) leaders rejected the idea saying the party was not ready for any kind of alliance with the BJP.
“The BJP can cooperate with all parties except the Congress, CPI(M) and the Muslim league in the matter of formation of councils in local bodies. This certainly means that we can also cooperate with the KC(M). We don’t hold a position that a party is unacceptable because one person is corrupt,” State BJP president V Muraleedharan said in Kozhikode on Monday.
As per the huge success it had scored in the just-concluded civic elections, BJP has become a decisive force in at least 115 village panchayats and 20 municipalities as far as formation of governing councils is concerned. The party strategy is to form councils in these local administration bodies in cooperation with small parties outwitting the UDF and the left.
Asked about the alleged anomaly in the party’s move to ally with the party led by a graft-accused, Muraleedharan said, “KM Mani’s corruption is a subject he has to deal with. Mani is not going to rule the panchayats.”
Mani, chairman of the KC(M), third biggest partner of the Congress-led ruling UDF, resigned as Finance and law minister on November 10 following an uproar after the Kerala High Court upheld a lower court order for further probe against him by the Vigilance and advised him to decide on the basis of his conscience on continuing as a Cabinet member.
The State BJP is aiming to form governing councils in local bodies in the southern districts, first in Kottayam, with the help of the KC(M). Kottayam, Kerala’s rubber capital, is the main base of the KC(M), a party chiefly of Catholics and cash crop farmers. “There are several possibilities (for such alliances) in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts,” Muraleedharan said.
“Mani’s corruption need not affect his party. We have never said the KC(M) should have no representation in the Government. Our only demand was expulsion of Mani from the Cabinet,” he said. The Yuva Morcha had carried out an intense protest campaign in the State over the bar bribery scam demanding Mani’s resignation.
According to observers, the BJP could be aiming to start a new political project by giving representation to Mani’s party in power at the Centre. They say this is only logical as the BJP may naturally aim at expanding its role in the State after the perceived success of its alliance with the SNDP Yogam, outfit of Hindu lower caste Ezhava community, in the civic election.
“The BJP may want to cash in on the uncertainty prevailing in the KC(M) over its relationship with the UDF (Congress leaders had put pressure on Mani to resign) over the bar bribery issue. It may be feeling that an understanding at local level with KC(M) could be taken to the next level with the 2016 Assembly election,” said a journalist of a pro-Congress newspaper.
However, KC(M) leaders rejected the idea of having alliance with the BJP. “Any party which believes in secularism cannot have tie-up with a party which is creating an atmosphere of communalism,” said KC(M) general secretary Antony Raju.