Hardly have the UDF and the Chief Minister, in the thick of a crucial electoral battle, recovered from the setback caused by the ‘patch-up’ between leader of the Opposition, V S Achuthanandan and CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan when they received a rude jolt in the form of a refusal by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) to probe the TP Chandrashekharan murder case. According to the CBI spokesperson, there was no scope for a further probe as the state police had already investigated the case.

However, a stunned Kerala Government and the CM swung into action by making an urgent appeal to the Central Department of Personnel to intervene in the matter. The UDF Government argued that the TP murder case was a fit subject for a CBI probe as an international gold smuggling racket had links with the case. A readily obliging Personnel Department has written to the CBI asking it to reconsider its decision not to investigate the case.

The CBI’s snub has caused a huge political embarrassment to both the UDF and the Chief Minister, as it has come at a time when the front is locked in a grim poll battle. Understandably, the CPI(M) is ‘celebrating’ the victory. The top Kerala CPI(M) leaders said the CBI decision has vindicated their stand that there was no legal scope for a CBI inquiry into the case, and that a stratagem to target the CPI(M) during the Lok Sabha elections has fallen flat.

Understandably, aggrieved Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leaders, including K K Rema, wife of the slain leader TP Chandrashekharan, who had demanded the CBI probe, suspect a ‘deal’ between the UDF Government and the CPI(M) in the matter. The RMP leaders have decided to approach the court to challenge the CBI’s decision. The growing perception is that the Congress-led UPA at the Centre will have to seek the support of the left parties led by the CPI(M) to prevent the formation of a government by the communal BJP in the post-poll scenario. Hence the CBI move not to take up the investigation in the TP murder case.

What has caused acute embarrassment to the UDF Government is the revelation that the government was in the know of the CBI’s decision but the government decided to keep it a secret until after the Lok Sabha elections. The turn of events could weaken the UDF campaign as a jubilant CPI(M) has already started using it as a hot campaign issue.

The third setback for the Chandy Government has been the highly critical remarks against the Chief Minister made by High Court judge Harun-ul-Rashid while considering a petition filed by victims of Kadakampally and Kalamassery land grab cases in which CM’s former gunman, Salim Raj is allegedly involved.

Although a division bench of the HC has since stayed Justice Rashid’s observations, it is cold comfort for the beleaguered CM and the UDF. The reason: the division bench has refused to delete the paragraph 70 of the judgment. All it has done is to stay, and not expunge, two ‘objectionable’ sentences in the paragraph. That can hardly be called a relief to the CM as is claimed by the Congress and other UDF leaders, argue the LDF camp. The legal setback is also being exploited to the hilt, to telling effect, by the opposition LDF, much to the discomfiture of the UDF and the CM, who had psyched up the perception that the UDF has a clear edge in the poll campaign. (IPA)