The allegations of land laws violation by the Lake Palace resort in Alappuzha, owned by Transport Minister Thomas Chandy, have driven a wedge between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan with the two key functionaries of the government taking divergent positions on who should handle the related cases before the Kerala High Court.
On Friday, the Revenue Minister shot off a letter to the Advocate General directing him to hand over the case to Additional Advocate General Ranjith Thampan, who normally handles revenue cases. When the case came up for hearing before the High Court the other day, State Attorney K.V. Sohan had appeared on behalf of the government.
In his letter, Mr. Chandrasekharan has told the Advocate General that the case against the Transport Minister was a matter of serious public interest and, as such, should be handled by the Additional Advocate General who is an experienced hand in such matters.
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The Revenue Minister’s letter to the Advocate General has come in the wake of reports that he and the Chief Minister are on different pages on the question how the government should proceed with the allegations that the resort had violated the Kerala Land Utilisation Act and the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act. While the Chief Minister is credited with the view that the government should not rush in the matter, the Revenue Minister had from the outset taken the position that law must take its course regardless of Mr. Chandy being a member of the Cabinet.
The Alappuzha District Collector, who was asked by the Revenue Department to examine the allegations, had reportedly found them to be valid.
Even as the government took its time to vet the report and initiate action, the resort management approached the High Court, resulting in the tussle within the Cabinet.
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In a statement here, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the Chief Minister had tried to keep the Additional Advocate General out of the case only to favour Mr. Chandy.
In a separate statement, BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan said the whole episode was proof for the ‘unholy nexus’ between the CPI(M) and Mr. Chandy.