The Congress in Kerala has reportedly formulated a plan to urgently settle the issue emanating from the infamous solar scam in which Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is allegedly involved by forcing Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan to resign even as indications came out that moves for a change of rule in the State.
No plan has been devised so far by any party for a change of rule but speculation started on in this direction with the change in the position of the CPI(M) over the solar scam. The Marxists, who had only been demanding Chandy’s resignation over the scandal, indicated on Monday that they were not averse to the idea of bringing the UDF regime down.
“We are watching the developments in the UDF,” CPI(M) Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai told newspersons in Delhi when asked about the reports that supporters of Finance Minister KM Mani of the Kerala Congress(M) were interested in seeing him as Chief Minister. “We will take an appropriate decision depending on how things evolve,” Pillai said.
Interestingly, Mani did not reject the speculation. Stating that he respected the opinion of the CPI(M), Mani said, “I have not made any move (to be CM) nor would I adopt unethical methods for it.” Mani’s party is the third biggest partner of the UDF with nine MlAs in the 140-member Assembly. The ruling front's total strength is 73.
Government Chief Whip PC George, vice-chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), said that his party would like to see Mani becoming Chief Minister. "For the time being, we have not thought about leaving the UDF but nothing is final in politics. However, such things have to be discussed in the party committees," George told the media.
CPI(M)-watchers said that the Marxists need not feel shy about the idea of propping up Mani to the post of Chief Minister, especially as the lok Sabha elections were to take place in less than ten months. "It is not an unthinkable idea but there are problems like whether the left would opt to support him from outside or whether he would join the lDF," said a former CPI(M) theorist.
As expected, the Congress responded to the speculation rather confidently with State party president Ramesh Chennithala saying, "It is just a dream of the Marxists that the Chandy-led Government could be overthrown. The UDF is standing united and Mani and his Kerala Congress (M) are indivisible parts of the front," he said.
Reports suggested that the Congress's 'I' group led by Chennithala and the 'A' group led by his arch enemy Chandy had come to an understanding to save the Government from doom over the scam by forcing Home Minister Thiruvanchoor resign in the name of the failures of his Department in the investigation into it.
The plan is said to be in tune with the Congress high command's instruction to settle the issue of the scam in the State itself and not to allow it to affect the prospects of the party and the UDF in the lok Sabha polls. Both the 'A' and 'I' groups are convinced that the Government's fall over the scam at this juncture can cause a huge setback in the polls.
Thiruvanchoor was once the most trusted loyalist of Chandy who had handpicked him for the Home Minister's job last year but the relationship is said to have changed with the arrest of his aide Tenny Joppen on June 28 for his role in the solar scam just when Chandy was returning from Manama after receiving the UN Global Award for Public Service.
Other charges leveled against Thiruvanchoor by his party colleagues are leaking of call data records for the phone of scam perpetrator Saritha S Nair, trying to avoid arresting actress-dancer Shalu Menon, another perpetrator, and conspiring to make Sreedharan Nair, a scam victim, give a statement in court under Section 164 linking Saritha and Chandy.