Dissent is brewing within Kerala’s Congress party over the protection being provided by the top leadership for tainted Finance Minister KM Mani. Though nobody is openly holding any particular leader responsible for this, every criticism in this regard is directed at Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
The opinion that it is high time the party stopped protecting Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), third biggest constituent of the Congress-led ruling UDF, who is facing serious charges of corruption, is gathering strength in the Congress. But Chandy defended him even on Wednesday saying nobody was finding any fault with Mani.
Many middle-level Congress leaders are worried that the top leadership, particularly Chandy, is adopting an autocratic attitude when it comes to the matter of Mani permitting no difference of opinion and that State Congress president VM Sudheeran is unable to control the Chief Minister.
Former Minister and State Congress spokesman Pandalam Sudhakaran said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that Mani should go on leave now but the post was withdrawn within hours allegedly due to pressure from the top. Here also, Chandy came to the defence of Mani saying that the party did not share Sudhakaran’s view.
Another party spokesman, Ajay Tharayil, had aired divergent opinion on the Mani issue but the Chief Minister rejected this also openly. “The KPCC president as head of the party and myself as the chairman of the UDF have made the stand clear on the matter. It is up to the PCC chief to decide what to do with partymen who air contradicting opinions,” Chandy said.
Sources within the Congress say that it is this stand of Chandy which is emboldening Mani to neglect the Opposition onslaught on him. The general perception is that Chandy cannot antagonise Mani because his continuance in power depends on the nine seats Mani’s party has in the 140-seat Assembly where the UDF’s strength is just 74.
Mani is accused of demanding a bribe of Rs5 crore from the State’s bar owners and taking Rs1 crore of it promising to help them to get licences of their closed bars renewed and of collecting several crores of rupees by leaking out Budget proposals to interested business sectors. The Vigilance has registered an FIR against him in the bar bribery scam.
The CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF, which was demanding Mani’s resignation, had vowed not to allow him to present the 2015-16 State Budget but the Chief Minister was firm that Mani himself would present it. The Kerala Assembly witnessed vandalism and violence over this on March 13 bringing shame to the State’s democratic tradition.
“Mani can wash away the stain of sin (if he goes on leave)… It would also bring some respite to the friction Kerala politics is witnessing,” Sudhakaran’s FB post said. He later said that he would withdraw the post. This was followed by Chandy’s statement that the party did not share Sudhakaran’s view, giving a clear indication of why he had decided to withdraw the post.
Ajay Tharayil had in a recent TV debate said Mani should not present the Budget in the prevailing situation. He was later forced to explain to the party that this was merely his personal opinion. He also had to stay away from participating in TV debates for some time.
Just two days back, Tomy Kallani, district Congress president in Kottayam, had warned the leadership at a meeting that Mani would become a huge liability to the party if providing protection to him continued because the general belief was that the Finance Minister had committed corruption. Even several leaders of Mani’s own party were of this belief, he said.
Even Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, former PCC chief, had indirectly warned the party at the same meeting against providing protection to Mani by saying that the UPA’s humiliating defeat in the last lok Sabha polls was an indication of how strong the people’s sentiment against corruption was.