The 35th National Games, currently on at 29 venues in seven districts across the State, present an interesting picture. If one goes exclusively by media reports, it is the biggest sporting disaster that has happened in the State in recent times. But, if one were to listen to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) top honchos, including its technical committee officials, it is one of the best that has been organised in the country. They are all praise for the excellent infrastructure that has been created, about the quality of arrangements at the venues and the effort that has gone into the organisation of the mega event in just about a year or so. However, it is the negative image that has tended to persist, thanks to the many controversies over inadequate preparations for the games, procurement of equipment, and the ‘disastrous’ opening ceremony. Now, even as the games enters its most exciting phase with the athletics events, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is on the scene to investigate the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the games. The target of all the attacks is Transport and Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan. When a team of CBI sleuths descended on the State capital on a preliminary fact-finding mission, the question on many a lip was about the identity of the person who had approached the CBI for the investigation. The State BJP was the prime suspect, but it now turns out that the CBI entered the scene primarily based on a 50-page document that had reached its Chennai office a few days ago. Those who have been following the developments in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) say the document, a virtual charge sheet, was sent to Chennai by a top leader of the ruling alliance, who has been spitting fire against Mr. Radhakrishnan over the past few weeks and more.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and some senior members of his Cabinet were supposed to visit Nadapuram on Saturday, but could not make it to the trouble-torn region, as the Chief Minister later clarified, due to a dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the BJP. But questions have begun doing the rounds in official and political circles in Kozhikode district about the real reason for Mr. Chandy and the Ministers deciding not to visit the home of the young man who was killed in a brutal attack at Nadapuram.
The Chief Minister, while briefing newspersons after a closed-door all-party meeting at nearby Vadakara, had expressed the desire of the Cabinet team to visit the violence-hit areas, but he said it had to be cancelled on account of the hartal. However, it now turns out that the special branch of the State police did not want the Cabinet team to visit Nadapuram. The special branch input was that it might be tough for the police to control the local population who were angry about the delay in the government’s response to the violence in the area.
As the bar bribery scandal shows no signs of abatement and the Budget presentation date approaches, trade bodies are in a dilemma. It is that time of the year when they search for ways and means to have the government accede to their demands in respect of taxation. The present predicament is partially due to the opposition to the very presence of the Finance Minister at such trade body meetings. The Opposition parties have adopted an aggressive position against the Minister and have been holding black-flag demonstrations wherever he attended public meetings. A meeting held in Kochi for the Minister to discuss Budget issues with IT honchos at Infopark on Friday had seen DYFI activists staging such a demonstration outside the venue. More worrisome is the possibility of any attempt to influence the Finance Minister as being interpreted as an attempt to strike a deal, as alleged in connection with the bar bribery charges. Representatives of a few trade bodies who had met the Minister in pre-Budget discussions in the past have got enmeshed in the muddle after the bar scandal broke out.With inputs from
S. Anil Radhakrishnan (Thiruvananthapuram), Biju Govind (Kozhikode), and R. Ramabhadran Pillai (Kochi)
