The Congress-led UDF Opposition on Tuesday questioned the impropriety in the Kerala Congress(Mani) faction’s continuation in the ruling LDF in the backdrop of an affidavit submitted by the Kerala Government in Supreme Court on Monday.
The Kerala Government under the CPI(M)led LDF had told the apex court on Monday that the unpleasant incidents that occurred in the Legislative Assembly on March 13, 2015 were the fallout of the protests against the then
Finance Minister K M Mani, who was an accused in a corruption case.
The lawyer representing the Kerala Government told the apex court that there were corruption charges against Mani at that time (known more as the Bar pay off case) and the opposition MLAs staged a demonstration inside the House to prevent the accused
Minister from presenting the State budget.
On Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition V D Satheeshan, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and Muslim League Leader P K Kunhalikutty lambasted the LDF for furnishing wrong information to the court.
“Jose K Mani, leader of the KC(M), should make it clear that whether he agrees with the affidavit filed by the
Kerala Government in the apex court against his father,” said Satheeshan. P C George, Mani’s close confidante for decades asked Jose K Mani to quit the LDF if there was an
iota of self respect remaining in him.
But CPI(M) secretary A Vijayaraghavan who is also the convener of the LDF, said that the media in the State was making a mountain out of molehill.
“The Government never told the court that K M Mani was corrupt. This is an attempt by the media to portray the LDF in poor light,” said Vijayaraghavan. Jose K Mani told reporters at Kottayam that he does not have any ill feelings towards anybody. “We have told the LDF leadership about our stance,” said Jose.
The 2015 demonstrations took an ugly turn as some of the MLAs got engaged in fisticuffs while some others turned the podium of the Speaker upside down and destroyed the computer screen, key board and other stationery materials.
A case was filed by the then Speaker’s office and the entire video recordings of the incidents had been presented before the district court in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram. By 2016, there was a change of government in Kerala as the LDF was voted to power in the assembly election.
The KC(M) which was with the UDF, switched over its loyalty following the death of Mani and the faction contested the 2019 Assembly election as a constituent of the LDF. Meanwhile the Kerala Government’s appeal to withdraw the case was dismissed by the Thiruvananthapuram district court as well as the Kerala High Court.
Since the present education minister of Kerala, Sivan Kutty has been listed as an accused in the case, the LDF Government has to ensure that the case was quashed by the apex court. When the case came up for hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court gave a dressing down to the petitioner and said that such incidents should not have taken place in the House.