In a development which has robbed the Chief Minister’s camp of the joy at having ‘turned the tables’ on an adamant KPCC president, Special Judge(Vigilance), Thiruvananthapuram, has ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau(VACB) to register an FIR against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Public Works Minister V. K. Ibrahim Kunju and eight others in the Titanium corruption case and conduct a probe.

Significantly, the verdict, which has grave political implications for the Congress-led United Democratic Front(UDF) Government, has quashed a preliminary inquiry(PI) report prepared by vigilance officials more than a year ago, which had given a clean chit to the Chief Minister and other respondents in the case, exonerating them from any criminal liabilities in the case on the ground that there was no evidence against them.

The case relates to the alleged corruption in the setting up of a waste treatment plant in the Travancore Titanium Products Limited(TTPL), which caused a loss of Rs 256 crore to the State exchequer.

Significantly, the vigilance court order has come a day after the Supreme Court gave a ruling that a ministerial berth for someone who has been chargesheeted in a serious criminal case or trial case, will go against the spirit of the Constitution.

The SC order will make it difficult for the Kerala Chief Minister to cling on to his position. And a jubilant Opposition in the state has demanded that the CM and the Home Minister must step down immediately. While welcoming the court order, both the LDF and the BJP have asserted that the reinvestigation would be meaningless if the Chandy Government continues in power.

Ironically, it was former Congress Minister K. K. Ramachandran Master who had first raised the allegations against Chandy and Chennithala. He had to pay a heavy price for doing so as he was told to resign in the wake of his allegation against the Chandy-Chennithala duo.

Opposition leader V. S. Achuthanandan has rightly termed the court order as a severe setback for the CM, who, he alleged, had sabotaged all corruption probes against him using agencies under his rule. Not only that. No proper probe was conducted in the earlier scams like the Solar scam, VS charged, adding that the CM even supported those under a cloud. The CPI(M) secretariat asked: how can there be a fair investigation when Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala, who heads the vigilance department, stay in power?

The Chief Minister, in a typical reaction, has tried to brazen it out by blaming the previous LDF Government for the financial dealings relating to Titanium and the losses incurred therefrom. His defence: his name was not there in the original complaint, and his name and those of Chennithala and Ibrahim Kunju were included after the Vigilance had already probed the issue under the LDF rule.

The development has upset the calculations of the Chief Minister who is planning a visit to the national capital to brief the Congress president of the difficulties he had to face because of the KPCC president’s insistence on not reopening the 418 closed bars in the state. The Chief Minister has obviously lost the political initiative following the vigilance court verdict, and it will be difficult for him to have his way in his talks with the high command.

Latest reports emanating from Delhi have it that a worried high command has sought a report from the state unit of the party on the implications of the vigilance court order for the Congress-led UDF Government. How the latest political episode will play out remains to be seen. But one thing can be said for sure: politically, Chandy has been forced on to the backfoot. Will he be able to defend his ‘wicket’ in the face of ‘hostile bowling’ by a resurgent Opposition? Time alone can tell. (IPA Service)