Four days after Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was defending in the Kerala High Court, a lottery distributor charged with irregularities, withdrew from the case, the party's central leadership continued to take a serious view of the matter.
With pressure to drop Mr. Singhvi as national spokesperson continuing to mount from within the Kerala unit for embarrassing the party on the eve of local panchayat and civic elections, Congress media chairman Janardan Dwivedi acknowledged that “the party has taken serious note of the issue, even though he [Singhvi] has declared that he has withdrawn from the case.”
Under consideration
Pressed to expand on whether any action was planned against Mr. Singhvi, Mr. Dwivedi said, “The matter is under consideration.” The Kerala unit wants the matter to be examined by the party's Disciplinary Action Committee headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony. (The other two members are Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.)
Last week, Mr. Singhvi flew into Thiruvananthapuram to defend Santiago Martin of Megha Distributors, an agent for lotteries based in Sikkim and Bhutan, and to challenge an ordinance passed by the Left Front government to check irregularities in private lotteries. This has embarrassed the local Congress as one of its key election issues had been that Megha Distributors was able to run its business in Kerala, unregulated, as it was a prime financier of the Left Front government.
Indeed, it was this that had compelled the Achutanandan-led government there to bring an ordinance to check the proliferation of such private, out-of-State lotteries, which flourished without any checks on the number of tickets sold, the draws announced or the sales tax they are required to pay.
With Mr. Singhvi succeeding in having the ordinance struck down in the High Court, the Left Front government in the State has seized the opportunity to hit back at the Congress.
Kerala's Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that Mr. Singhvi has the backing of Congress president Sonia Gandhi because, otherwise, “action would have been taken against him.” Mr. Balakrishnan has also accused the Congress of playing a “double game,” saying they are against illegal lotteries, while actually supporting the “lottery mafia.” A red-faced State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala has hit back in Pathanamthitta, saying, “We have already asked the high command to see that strong action be taken against Singhvi.”
