Even as the Opposition guns for Finance Minister K.M. Mani over the bar licence bribery charges, a battle appears to be shaping up in his party between those who want him out and those who are solidly behind him. Nobody in the ruling alliance has as yet spoken about the need or otherwise for Mr. Mani to step down. However, that has not stopped party vice chairman P.C. George from touching upon the taboo subject. He has done so by not suggesting that Mr. Mani step down, but by cleverly bringing to the fore the question of succession once Mr. Mani leaves the scene.
Mr. George is known for his outspokenness and has never minced words when taking on rivals. His language as he raised the issue of succession within the Kerala Congress (M) clearly suggests that he is looking beyond the Mani era to a new pecking order in the party. His immediate target is the Finance Minister’s son and MP Jose K. Mani and his long-term objective is to have a greater role in the post-Mani era.
If Mr. George succeeds in his effort, it could spell trouble for Mr. Mani. But the veteran of many a battle is not one to take things lie down.
If he is not doing anything about Mr. George, it is only because of the difficult situation he finds himself within his own party. So far, Mr. Mani has received unqualified support from Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. His other consolation is that those who had come into the party with Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph do not see eye to eye with Mr. George. But that is only small consolation when attacks originate from the flanks.
Bureaucratic hurdles, procedural delays, red tape and controversies are nothing new in the project implementation scene in Kerala. The latest project of the government to get entangled in all this is the Light Metro proposed for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode cities.
To begin with, there was an inordinate delay in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for Light Metro getting the nod. The Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation, the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up for implementing the project, did not get registration despite the government issuing an order forming it.
The State Planning Board, which has been vetting the DPR for over a month now, is yet to give its appraisal report. Incidentally, E. Sreedharan, Principal Advisor to DMRC, is also a board member in-charge of Transportation. Both the officials of the Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation and the DMRC are already upset with the delay. Adding to their worry is what they term Kochi Metro Rail Limited’s undue interest in the Light Metro project.
The KMRL has deputed a senior official to monitor the appraisal by the Planning Board closely. Planning Board insiders say the official has been ringing them up frequently to know the outcome of the appraisal ever since the related file landed there from the Public Works Department.
The KMRL, according to those in the know of things, is interested in the progress of the approval process as it wants to replace DMRC with an Italian private consulting company as the general design consultant for the project. Going by what these sources say, the KMRL is only acting according to bidding by those at the highest levels of government who are backing a Rome-based international engineering and architecture consulting firm to play a greater role in the implementation of the Light Metro project.
Labour Minister Shibu Baby John’s Gujarat visit and his meeting with Narendra Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister, had drawn widespread criticism. Unfazed, he had openly spelt out his admiration for the Gujarat model in skill development. The Minister appears to reaping the benefits of his bold initiative now that Mr. Modi is the Prime Minister.
That Mr. John has a special place in Delhi’s scheme of things became evident when he reached Delhi recently to submit a set of proposals for skill development in Kerala. To the Minister’s surprise, within two hours of his meeting and discussions with Union Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy, he received a communication from the Minister listing what steps the Centre could take on the proposals submitted by the State.
When Mr. Rudy came calling over a week ago, Mr. John told him at a public function how impressed he was by the prompt response which, he felt, had a lesson for bureaucracy in Kerala.
With inputs from
C. Gouridasan Nair,
N.J. Nair and
S. Anil Radhakrishnan (Thiruvananthapuram)
