True, the government managed to get a stay from a Division Bench of the High Court within hours in a day packed with dramatic developments. But the damning verdict of the single bench has further eroded the UDF Government’s credibility, which was already in tatters.

The case of the prosecution is that Achuthanandan had misused his office, while he was the Chief Minister, to allot 2.33 acres of government land in Kasargode district to his relative T K Soman, an ex-serviceman.

What has outraged public opinion is the unseemly haste with which the Government appealed for a stay on the single bench’s verdict. Normally, an appeal is filed after a careful study of the certified copy of the judgment. The case under consideration does not warrant the tearing hurry with which the government went in for an appeal. In the process, the oft-proclaimed myth of the UDF Government’s political impartiality has also been blown to smithereens.

Such was the devastation caused by the HC verdict that a stunned IUML general secretary described it as strange. But then, the speed with which the division bench granted the stay has also caused many eyebrows to be raised. What was more surprising was that the appeal of the Government had been filed without a certified copy of the single bench’s judgment, as required by the rules or a translation of the Malayalam documents for the benefit of the Chief justice of the HC who is a Kannadiga! VS’s counsel, who opposed the appeal, said that if a common man had filed such an appeal, it would not have even been numbered!

The strong objection of the VS counsel resulted in the division bench passing an order, even as it stayed the single bench’s judgment, asking the government to keep in abeyance the filing of an FIR against Achuthanandan till further orders. Further hearing in the case is due this week.

The VS camp is jubilant as the single bench’s verdict has armed the CPI(M) stalwart with a powerful weapon which will stand him in good stead in future legal battles in the case.

Some of the observations made by Justice SS Satheeshchandran of the single bench amount to a severe indictment of the UDF Government and the investigating agency, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. Incidentally, the HC verdict came at a time when the government was eagerly waiting for the Governor’s green signal for prosecution of Achuthanandan.

The judge agreed with Achuthanandan’s view that the case was politically motivated and had been registered with a view to tarnish his public image as a crusader against corruption. What lent further credence to VS’s argument, the judge observed, was the VACB’s decision to exclude three IAS officials from the case after the registration of the crime.

A few lawyers opine that VS has managed to buy time with the single bench’s verdict. They say that a protracted legal battle is ahead which could last for years. In other words, the UDF Government’s game-plan to politically cripple Achuthanandan has been frustrated at least for the time being. The legal victory will, needless to say, strengthen VS’s resolve to carry on his campaign against the UDF Government with redoubled vigour.

VS has also effectively frustrated UDF leaders’ attempt to drive a wedge between him and the CPI(M)’s official wing led by state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. VS had said, in his reaction, that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Industries Minister P K Kunhalikkutty to oust him from the position as leader of the opposition. The UDF tried to extract political mileage out of the statement, saying that the VS remark was directed also against Pinarayi and his supporters in the CPI(M). But VS was quick to see through the game and call the UDF leaders’ bluff.

Whatever the outcome of the case, such ruthless pursuit of the politics of vendetta does not augur well for the future of Kerala politics. The UDF leaders seem to be labouring under the misconception that their government is there for good. The politics of revenge is a double-edged weapon which cuts both ways. The earlier the UDF leaders realise this, the better. (IPA Service)