Front leaders ring-fence finance minister
Achuthanandan has further demanded a CBI probe to get at the truth of the charges. (Photo: DC/File)
Thiruvananthapuram: Bribery charges against UDF stalwart and finance minister K.M. Mani have pushed the ruling coalition on the back foot even as Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan brought pressure on State vigilance director Vinson M. Paul to initiate a probe.
Mr Vinson Paul is under no obligation to heed Mr Achuthanandan’s letter on Saturday morning but he may have to refer it to the state government for the next course of action.
Mr Achuthanandan has further demanded a CBI probe to get at the truth of the charges but the UDF leaders offered no convincing refutation to bar hotel owner Biju Ramesh’s allegations that bar owner association leaders had bribed Mr Mani to get a Cabinet order, favouring closed bars and others facing closure.
Besides Mr Ramesh, another bar hotel owner, Mr Manoharan, spoke of bribing Mr Mani, who, surprisingly, did not even bother to send a lawyer’s notice for maligning his fair name, spanning a half-century long political career.
On the hand, Mr Ramesh threatened to self-immolate or face self-exile if he was disproved. He has vowed to take the issue to court.
Mr Mani, who was huddled with party leaders in Kottayam on Saturday, emerged upbeat and was merely content, countering the charges as “baseless and a white lie, a conspiracy”.
The entire ruling UDF rallied behind Mr Mani in public though in private UDF leaders wondered why the finance minister had tried to stall a decision on the licence renewal seven months ago, telling his colleagues at the Cabinet meeting on March 26 that he had not seen the abkari licence renewal file.
Sources said Mr Mani had no business under the Rules of Business to interfere in an Excise matter after the Government had obtained the opinion of the Advocate-General twice. If this matter were to be investigated Mr Mani would be hard put to defend, they said.
Even Chief Minister Oommen Chandy seemed to suffer from a Freudian slip, referring to Mr Ramesh’s allegations as “a revelation”. Instead of a point-by-point rebuttal to the charges, Mr Chandy and company were content to extol the virtues of Mr Mani.
By default, Mr Chandy benefits by all this as CPM State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan points out. Mr Chandy can rest assured that for some time to come the beleaguered Mr Mani would not dare to cross over to the Left and accept their long-standing offer of CM post.
For now, the Chandy Ministry, which had teetered on the edge on several occasions with a slender majority, can breathe easy.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday gave a clean chit to Finance Minister K M Mani who is facing allegations of taking Rs 1 crore bribe from bar owners.
Reacting to the charges against Mani, Mr Chandy said “ People of Kerala will never believe the revelations made against a leader of the stature of Mani. His fifty years of political life has not been in an iron cage but among the people and along with people. People who know everything about his political life are not going to believe the revelations made by a person one fine morning.”
When asked about Biju Ramesh’s statement that he would commit self immolation if the charges were proved wrong, the chief minister said “That’s what I am saying. If he has some information let him bring out. Let him reveal. Don’t you think such a serious charges needs to be probed? Even K M Mani has called for a probe. There is no basis in the allegations. I have been given an opportunity to say this by the person who levelled the allegations. He says that he had informed me about the issue. Therefore I know what he is saying is not at all true. Then where is the need for a probe ?” the CM asked.
Mr Chandy said T N Prathapan committed a grave lapse in stating that K M Mani should give an explanation. “Who is Prathapan to seek an explanation from him ? If he had anything to say he could have told me. This is a deliberate attempt to divert attention from more important issues,'' the CM said.
Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said the allegations against Mani were grave and demanded a CBI probe into the whole issue. He said Mani had no right to continue in office in the wake of serious bribe allegations.
Working President of Bar Owners Association Biju Ramesh said he stood firmly on the allegations of bribe raised against K M Mani. The chief minister is trying to sidestep the issue fearing that the government might fall. He said he would approach the court to bring out the truth. He said more details about the allegations of bribe against Mani would be revealed shortly.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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