Kerala Home and Vigilance Minister Ramesh Chennithala, also former State Congress president, on Monday embarrassed his party as well as the ruling UDF it was leading with a Facebook post claiming that he had come under immense pressure from the Congress and the front over the Vigilance probe into the infamous bar bribery scam involving Finance and law Minister KM Mani.
He further embarrassed the party and the UDF by confirming on the floor of the State Assembly that he had indeed come under pressure. However, he claimed that he did not surrender to the pressure. “Quite naturally, there has been pressure. But I have not surrendered to that pressure,” Chennithala said in the Assembly on Monday.
The bar bribery scam rocked the House once more on Monday with the Opposition staging walkout when the 13th Assembly reconvened for its 14th session. The full Budget session, which had begun on June 8, was suspended on that day itself to reconvene on Monday in the context of the June 27 Assembly by-election in Aruvikkara constituency.
Minister Chennithala’s admission came amidst the discussion on the notice for an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition alleging that the Government had sabotaged the Vigilance probe into the bar bribery scam by forcing the Vigilance Director not to recommend filing of a chargesheet against Mani despite the presence of sufficient evidences.
Moving the notice, CPI(M) legislator S Sarma, a former minister, said that the Government had denied the Vigilance the opportunity to file its probe report in the court freely and fearlessly. He also charged the Government with forcing the Vigilance to take legal advice in the bar bribery case from a senior Supreme Court lawyer who had earlier argued cases for bar owners.
It was CPI(M) member AK Balan, former Power minister, who drew the attention of the Assembly to the Facebook post of Chennithala dated June 27 in which he stated, “I had not interfered in the Vigilance probe into the bar bribery scam. That was my firm and determined position. The pressure I faced for that from the Congress and the UDF was immense.”
Balan and other members of the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF wanted Chennithala to reveal to the Assembly the names of the Congress and UDF leaders who had put pressure on him. “There is this Facebook post of yours. Who was the Congress Minister who put pressure on youIJ Or was it someone from any of the allies of your partyIJ” Balan asked.
Stunning the Congress and UDF members, Chennithala admitted that the statement his Facebook post carried was true. He once again shocked his party, the UDF and the Government by confirming that the Vigilance had sought legal advice in the bar bribery case from senior advocate Nageswara Rao, who had earlier appeared in the court for the State’s bar owners.