Excise Minister K. Babu on Tuesday said that the Congress could have selected its candidates for the coming Assembly polls with more finesse.
A five-time MLA from Thripunithura, Mr. Babu’s candidature was a bone of contention within the Congress after Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran opposed fielding him because of the controversies surrounding his alleged involvement in the bar bribery scam.
“There’s not even a petty case against me. There was a preliminary inquiry followed by a quick verification by the Vigilance. When I filed a defamation case [against bar owner Biju Ramesh who levelled the allegations], instead of fighting the case, the liquor baron chose to obtain a stay from the High Court,” Mr. Babu said at Ernakulam Press Club’s Face-to-Face programme in the run-up to the polls. Asked about the outgoing government’s eleventh hour clearance of several land deals, which were rolled back in the face of criticism, he said the government corrected itself when it realised it had erred. Later in the day, he launched his election campaign at Thripunithura with a road show.
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Declining to be drawn to controversial questions on Mr. Sudheeran’s opposition to his candidature, Mr. Babu said it was heartening that everything fell in place in the end. He parried questions on the niggles within the Congress with counter-queries on bickering within the CPI(M) when it finalised candidates.
“While there were issues during seat allocation, it has all been resolved now. The party is like a well-oiled machinery now,” he said, exuding confidence about the UDF bettering its tally in Ernakulam district.
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The Congress leader said the big-ticket projects and welfare schemes introduced by the government would ensure its comeback.
Mr. Babu, originally from Angamaly, took a swipe at CPI(M) candidate for Thripunithura M. Swaraj, asking why was the CPI(M) fielding someone from outside the constituency, once a traditional stronghold of the party.