Speculation to that effect has mounted following the recent pronouncements of KC(M) chief and former finance minister K M Mani and his chief lieutenants.

The proximate cause for the anti-Congress statements of KC(M) leaders has been the the participation of former chief minister Oommen Chandy and former home minister Ramesh Chennithala in the engagement ceremony of the daughter of hotelier Biju Ramesh, to the son of former revenue minister and Congress leader Adoor Prakash.

Interestingly, it was Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, V. M. Sudheeran who set the ball rolling by criticizing Chandy and Chennithala for attending the engagement ceremony. Biju Ramesh, he reminded them, was the principal tormentor of the Congress and the UDF, who kicked up the bar bribery controversy, resulting in the resignation of K M Mani from the state cabinet. Both Chandy and Chennithala should not have attended the ceremony, Sudheeran said.

KC(M) leaders took up the cue from Sudheeran. KC(M) general secretary Joseph Puthussery was the first to fire a salvo against the Congress leaders.

President of the Kerala Youth Front, student wing of the KC(M), Saji Manjakkadambil, upped the ante by dashing off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, seeking her intervention in the matter. The letter, accused Ramesh Chennithala and Adoor Prakash of hatching a conspiracy against K M Mani, and sought action against the duo. Mani himself joined the tirade against the Congress leaders by alleging that the conspiracy was to force him to stay in the UDF. It may be mentioned that Congress leaders feared that Mani may cross over to the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) causing the collapse of the UDF Government. The conspiracy, Mani alleged, was to prevent such a denouement.

The letter to the Congress president mentioned, among other things, that there was a demand from the public at large to make Mani, the most experienced leader in the state, the chief minister. The CPI(M), the letter pointed out, had invited Mani to address the party plenum held at Palakkad, to inaugurate a seminar on Kerala’s economy.

The move had created a panic in the Congress. And senior Congress leaders who saw a threat in Mani’s game plan, the letter alleged, hatched a conspiracy to prevent the KC(M) chairman from leaving the UDF.

Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Mani is paving the way for leaving the UDF and crossing over to the BJP camp. There is an overwhelming feeling in the KC(M) that the Congress-led UDF has become a spent force, and there is no point in continuing to be its constituent.

On their part, a section of the BJP leaders, both at the Centre and in the State, are not averse to building bridges of understanding with KC(M) and its chief Mani. Their game plan is simple: an understanding with the KC(M) will help the BJP to have a firmer foothold in central Kerala, where the party is a minor player at present.

Be that as it may, the dispatch of the KYF letter has to be viewed also against the background of the decision of the State’s Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) to reopen the politically sensitive bar bribery case in which Mani figures prominently. It may be mentioned that VACB director, Jacob Thomas, has sought legal opinion in the matter. (IPA Service)