A case of so near, yet so far

KC(M) chief K. M. Mani has been invited to rejoin the government but is awaiting the judgement of the Vigilance court in the bar bribery case

February 01, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 07:49 am IST

The invite from the United Democratic Front (UDF) leadership for his return to the Cabinet should have come as music to former Finance Minister K.M. Mani’s ears. Theoretically, now the Kerala Congress (M) supremo can simply return to the Cabinet any day he wants.

And, it is not that he is not keen to do so at the earliest and, if possible, present one more budget.

But all that looks easier said than done, for it would all depend on what decision the Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance), Thiruvananthapuram, would take on the second investigation report submitted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on the bar bribery allegations against Mr. Mani.

The present plan of the government is to have budget presented in the Assembly on February 12, but the Vigilance Court would take up the VACB report only on February 16 when the VACB is to produce the case diary and the complainants in the case are to state their objections to the Vigilance report that has cleared Mr. Mani of all the charges in the graft case. Mr. Mani can take the calculated risk of returning to the Cabinet without waiting for the Vigilance Court’s decision, but any adverse remark from the Court would prove politically fatal for him and he would continue to be in the line of fire of the Opposition and the bar owners. Now that is what one would call so near, yet so far.

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There could be more to the gathering of bar hoteliers in Kochi on Sunday than meets the eye. One key demand of the gathering by the bar hoteliers, who currently run only beer and wine parlours, is that the trade organisation’s official leadership present the accounts of the Kerala Bar Hotel Association (KBHA) urgently.

The KBHA, an organisation that lobbies for the promotion of the liquor retail industry, periodically collects money from its members as ‘legal fund’. However, its fund collections in 2013 and 2014 have a certain import in Kerala politics currently. The Opposition’s accusation is that the collections were made at that point in time when bar owners were in the process of making payments of bribe to the main accused in the bar licence renewal case, namely former Finance Minister K. M. Mani.

The new KBHA faction apparently hopes to pressurise the official leadership to legally state whether or not pay-offs were made from collected funds to ruling front politicians to protect the trade. The faction has warned of legal action against the current leadership if the accounts were not made available to all members. The new factionalism in the KBHA is sure to have an impact, adverse or otherwise, on the graft issue particularly given the fact that the bar graft row is yet to run its full course.

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They may belong to the same alliance, but Congress Lok Sabha member M.K. Raghavan and Muslim League’s Rajya Sabha member P.V. Abdul Wahab were found on different pages as they participated in an interaction between representatives of various political parties and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju organised by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce at Kozhikode on Saturday. Their divergent perceptions had to do with the mysterious reasons for lack of progress in the development of the Karipur international airport owing to delay in land acquisition.

Mr. Raghavan’s grievance was that nothing was moving despite his holding three meetings with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to speed up land acquisition.

The Congress MP said he had found at the end of his efforts that there was resistance from certain quarters in the district to land acquisition. He did not find fault with anyone in particular, but merely stressed the need for all political players in Malappuram district, where the airport is located, to work together to speed up land acquisition. But, Mr. Wahab was quickly on his feet and made it clear that he did not think that any political party or outfit was opposed to land acquisition for airport development. “My party has offered to contribute funds for land acquisition if that could help develop the airport,” he said asserted, bringing smiles on the faces of all present at the meeting.

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With Kochi Metro achieving considerable progress and the first train commencing test run, the project’s consultant-cum-executing agency Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and its owner Kochi Metro Rail Limited are a contended lot. But, seemingly, if one were to go by what both have to say about their role in making all that possible in record speed and with impressive savings.

E. Sreedharan, Principal Advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has told the world how DMRC could help save Rs. 500 crore of the initial project outlay through several cost-saving measures and a new work culture. However, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), the implementing agency, feels that its role in making the savings possible is being overlooked.

The savings, those who speak for KMRL, say that it also had to do with companies bidding less than the estimate for components like coaches. But S. Sarma, MLA, has another take on the whole issue. He pointed out at the flagging off of the test run that the Rs 5,182 crore project could have been completed by now for half the project cost had the then UPA Government at the Centre and Planning Commission accorded sanction for the Centre-State joint venture project.

Precious time was wasted as private firms exerted pressure on the Centre and State to execute it in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, he said.

With inputs fromC. Gouridasan Nair,G. Anand (Thiruvananthapuram),K.V. Prasad (Kozhikode) andJohn L. Paul (Kochi)

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