Despite a full month into their closure, the fate of the 418 bars, whose licences have been cancelled for lack of required facilities, continues to hang in the balance as State Congress president VM Sudheeran and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy — who has the backing of his Cabinet colleagues — battle it out over the issue.
Discussions were held on the matter between Sudheeran and Chandy on Wednesday also but there was no agreement in that meeting either. However, Sudheeran said after the meeting, “We are one step closer to the solution.” He said that a decision would be taken through more discussions in the Congress and in consultation with UDF leaders by May 20.
“In a sense, this is an extension of the battle between leaders surviving on their factional strength and the PCC president who has always been against groupism in the party. Till now, these group managers were able to do anything they wanted in the State administration but Sudheeran seems to be succeeding in changing that,” said a group-neutral Congress leader.
However, Chief Minister Chandy asked newsmen not to try to create an impression that it was the State Congress president who was the de-facto ruler in Kerala and that was why there was no decision on the issue of licenses to the 418 bars. “A decision will come through discussions. But I cannot say when it will come,” Chandy said.
Sudheeran is on the one side with his firm stand that substandard bars could not be given operation permits and almost all the Congress members in the Cabinet including Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Excise Minister K Babu are on the other with their eagerness to end the stalemate as early as possible.
The Congress is also unable to take the matter to the ruling coalition for discussion in the absence of a consensus within itself. Further, the UDF too is a divided house over the matter as some constituents like the Muslim league are supportive of Sudheeran’s position while others want the bars to be granted licenses. After Chandy and Excise Minister Babu, Chennithala had tried to end the stalemate by proposing a five-point formula but Sudheeran openly rejected those proposals.
“The Home Minister’s proposals are not acceptable. This has been conveyed to Chennithala,” Sudheeran said on Wednesday. “Good decisions will need their share of discussions. let us hope a good decision will come at the right time,” he said. Chennithala said he still believed a solution to the problem could be found through discussions.
“The main problem is the failure of the Government to formulate a clear liquor policy,” said the group-neutral leader. The CPI(M)-led lDF has alleged that the Congress is playing a delaying tactics to extract maximum bribes from the bar owners. According to the left, a decision was needed urgently in the matter as it concerned the livelihood of over 40,000 bar employees.