The Congress seemed to have suffered a political and legal setback in some measure after an anti-corruption court here found little merit in party legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan’s accusation that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter, T. Veena, had illegally benefited from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s “mining lease concessions“ to a Kochi-based mining firm in 2016.
Mr. Kuzhalnadan had initially approached the Special Vigilance Court here, saying the Vigilance department had refused to probe financial transactions between Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd. (CMRL) and Ms. Veena's company Exalogic.
The court summarily threw out Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s plea for a court-monitored vigilance investigation into his claim that the mining company had contracted Ms. Veena’s IT consultancy for a sizeable monthly retainer as a quid pro quo for the government’s nod for acquiring “excess land“ to quarry for rare minerals in Alappuzha district in contravention of Central government norms.
Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s accusations of nepotism and corruption dominated television talk shows, significantly impacting the political narrative and offering the Congress a sensational grist to target Mr. Vijayan, the LDF’s star campaigner, during the protracted Lok Sabha campaign phase.
‘Politically motivated’
The court reportedly found some merit in the VACB’s argument that the litigation seemed politically motivated.
Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s plea had its provenance in an I-T Tribunal’s contentious finding that the mining firm had made several “inexplicable“ payments to politicians, their next of kin, and some media houses between 2017 and 2021.
The controversy also had the makings of a private spat, with Mr. Kuzhalnadan portraying a “land grab“ case registered against him in Idukki as a political vendetta pursued zealously by Mr. Vijayan’s office.
The arguably damning court verdict seemed to have brought the Congress’s accusatory campaign against Mr. Vijayan to a screeching halt, at least temporarily. Mr. Kuzhalnadan said he would appeal against the court’s finding if required.
The verdict also prompted the CPI(M) to open a new line of attack against the Congress. The party’s State secretariat said the verdict had laid bare the “Congress-right wing media-Central government“ conspiracy to defame the Chief Minister and the CPI(M) by weaving a politically motivated yarn spun from malicious lies and far-fetched conspiracy theories in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Union Minister of State For External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, said the Congress had compromised on principles and withheld evidence to save Mr. Vijayan, an INDIA Bloc ally, from political and legal jeopardy.
