It may be mentioned that Mr Pillai had been sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the Edamalayar corruption case. He spent a few months in jail, but managed to get admitted to a private hospital which boasts five-star facilities for treatment, for multiple ailments. An obliging UDF government went out of its way to indulge every whim of Mr Pillai whose son, Ganesh Kumar, is the forest and Sports minister in the Chandy Government. Although facilities for the treatment of Mr Pillai’s illness were available in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital, Pillai sought refuge in the private hospital with the help of an indulgent government in blatant violation of all rules.

The matter did not end there. Mr Pillai enjoyed access to a mobile phone although as a prisoner he was not supposed to use one. Reports have it that Pillai made as many as 298 calls within a month! The flagrant violation of the rules came to light when an enterprising TV channel reporter ‘trapped’ Pillai into talking to him on the mobile phone. The issue acquired the dimensions of a raging controversy when Pillai made a call to the Chief Minister’s private secretary. The CM first flatly denied Pillai’s talk with his private secretary, but admitted it later in the face of incontrovertible evidence.

A rattled UDF threatened the TV channel reporter with punishment for his ‘crime’. Chief whip of the Government P C George, who is known for his bull-in-a-China-shop-style functioning, said the reporter’s offence was punishable with imprisonment up to one year, a fine of Rs 10,000 or both. George was deafeningly silent on the punishment Pillai’s crime attracted! Legal experts have it that George is on a weak wicket in the matter. Deputy Leader of the opposition Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had the last word on the subject: he said the CM, who had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 for bringing out corruption and wrongdoing in the government, should give it to the reporter of the TV channel who unearthed the scandal!

The sordid episode ended with Pillai getting away with a light punishment – he will have to spend only four more days in jail for the ‘crime’ of using a mobile phone. Former home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, however, twisted the knife in the UDF wound by saying that Pillai’s offence was punishable with imprisonment up to three years.

But the UDF Government, which has only a wafer-thin majority, cannot afford to alienate neither Pillai nor his son Ganesh Kumar by meting out such harsh punishment to Pillai. The entire episode has left a bitter taste in the mouth with the UDF Government suffering a further slide in its credibility and popularity.

The episode was a godsend for the buoyant Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government, which lost no time in going for the kill. A delegation led by leader of the opposition, V S Achuthanandan met the Governor demanding a judicial probe into the matter. The issue found a resonant echo in the state assembly too with the LDF putting the UDF Government on the mat.

In conclusion it must be said that the LDF has managed to extract maximum political mileage from the issue. Although the UDF is pulling out all the stops to target VS by attacking his son, to neutralize the negative fallout of the phon(e)y episode, it has not succeeded in its effort. For the moment, it is advantage LDF, to put it in tennis parlance. (IPA)