Babu, a close confidant of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, had to quit following the order of Thrissur Vigilance Court to register a case against him in the bar bribery case. The only saving grace(if it can be called one) is that Babu resigned immediately unlike Mani who puffed and panted, hummed and hawed before putting in his papers. The Congress, to which Babu belongs, is now trying to claim the moral high ground over Babu’s prompt resignation.

To say that the resignation has left both the Congress and the party-led United Democratic Front(UDF) staggering is only to state the obvious. What makes the cut more painful is the fact that the crucial assembly elections are only three months away. Though the UDF leaders are putting up a brave face in the face of what is obviously a stunning blow, they know that the UDF will have to pay a heavy electoral penalty.

In the process, the UDF leaders have also learnt that in politics, even a day is long time! Till the other day, the Congress and other UDF leaders were gloating over the discomfiture of the CPI(M) when the High Court admitted a UDF petition seeking an early hearing in the SNC Lavalin case in which CPI(M) Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan is one of the accused. The resignation of Babu has wiped the smiles off the faces of UDF leaders. The grim, hangdog expression is back on their faces. As a local Congress leader put it, in Kalyug, divine retribution is quick! The UDF leaders are paying the price for trying to be too clever, he added.

The Babu resignation episode is only the thin end of the wedge. More episodes are in the pipeline as the working president of the Bar Owners Association (BOA), Biju Ramesh, has threatened to reveal the names of more ministers who have accepted bribes from bar owners as soon as the election schedule is announced! The names of two Congress ministers who belong to the I group are already in circulation in this connection.

An immediate fallout of Babu’s exit has been the distinct possibility of the group war within the Congress intensifying.

The A group led by Oommen Chandy is learnt to be unhappy about the way Babu, who belong to the group, had to go. The A group leaders say in private that Babu’s resignation could have been avoided if only the Vigilance Department, which is under the control of Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala who heads the rival I geroup, had done its homework better. The department provoked the court by going slow on the inquiry against Babu. The apathy shown by the vigilance – deliberately, allege A group leaders – provoked the court into making stringent observations on the functioning of the Vigilance Department, and ordering the registration of an FIR against Babu.

The A group leaders are also angry with Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) president, V. M. Sudheeran who took a tough stand on the issue, stating that Babu will have to resign. Speculation is rife that the KPCC chief has taken sweet revenge by settling scores against the CM, who had outsmarted him in the politics over the reopening of closed bars in the State.

The latest setback has come in as an embarrassment for Sudheeran, who is in the thick of his ‘Jana Raksha Yatra’(Save People Yatra). He will be hard put to explain the discomfiture being faced by the Congress-led UDF Government in the bar bribery case.

The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is overjoyed over the fresh problems plaguing the UDF. A jubilant Pinarayi is on record that Babu’s resignation is only the beginning. After all, Babu accepted the bribe not for him alone but also for the Congress, said Vijayan. Leadero of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan supported Vijayan’s stand, adding that, if properly investigated, the involvement of Oommen Chandy himself in the scandal would come to light.

Needless to say, the despair of the UDF is the delight of the LDF. The Front has decided to go all out to cash in on the Babu resignation episode by making it their main electoral plank. No wonder, there is a new sparkle in the eyes of LDF leaders, whose shoulders had slumped in the wake of the court decision in the Lavalin case. The spring is very much back in their steps to the dismay of the UDF leaders! (IPA Service)