Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday urged the Opposition Left Democratic Front to call off their proposed moves to boycott Finance Minister K M. Mani’s budget presentation in view of the fact that the allegations were based on “specious facts.”
However, the LDF leaders, led by CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, were lukewarm to the Chief Minister’s appeal, asking him to take recourse to the court to get the First Information Report filed against Mr. Mani quashed if it felt that the allegations were baseless.
Replying to the two-day debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s Address in the Assembly, Mr. Chandy said the investigations leading to the FIR had been initiated on the basis of the complaint filed by Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan. All those who were made witnesses did not depose against Mr. Mani during the investigations. But they gave a different version to the media persons who accosted them after they came out of the questioning session, he said.
The Opposition members, including S. Sarma, contended that the FIR was filed on the basis of the findings of the Quick Verification conducted by the Vigilance and had four pivotal points related to the allegations. Mr. Chandy maintained that the government did not interfere in the investigation process and as the Chief Minister, he said, no material evidence against Mr. Mani had come up before him.
Revenue recovery
Mr. Chandy also defended Mr. Mani, who has been accused of issuing stay orders on revenue recovery proceedings out of the way, stating that the Finance Minister had issued the orders well within his administrative purview and in accordance with the Cabinet decision imposing conditions on sanctioning such stay orders. He said he had issued a similar stay order on revenue recovery worth Rs.173 crores in the case of Pariyaram Medical College. The order was in fact irregular as it did not conform to the Cabinet decision. “There are times when a person sitting in the Minister’s chair would have to take certain decisions in the name of justice and fair play. Mr. Mani took only such decisions,” Mr. Chandy said.
