A constitutional crisis in Kerala has been nipped in the bud with Transport Minister Thomas Chandy resigning from the 18-month-old Pinarayi Vijayan government, but the issue may continue to trouble the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for a long time.
The LDF that came to power in May 2016 with the promise to provide a corruption-free government took around two months to take a decision on a district collector’s report that confirmed land grab charges against a backwater resort Chandy co-owned with his wife. Thomas Chandy belongs to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar.
It took Pinarayi Vijayan only two days to seek the resignation of his colleague EP Jayarajan, that time number two in the government, after a charge of nepotism was leveled against him.
Pinarayi asked the resignation of Chandy’s predecessor AK Saseendran immediately after a television channel aired his alleged sex chat with a woman.
Even after receiving Alappuzha district collector’s report in September 2017 over alleged encroachment of part of a lake by Lake Palace resort, which he owned, and a vigilance court ordering a preliminary inquiry into the charges.Pinarayi has been continually trying to shield Chandy, who replaced Saseendran in May.
Pinarayi also sat on the LDF state committee’s recommendation to take an appropriate decision on Chandy’s fate for nearly a week. He also gave Chandy and his party a day even after the Kerala High Court dismissed Chandy’s petition against the report of district collector TV Anupama with questions over the collective responsibility of his ministry.
The resignation came only after four ministers belonging to the Communist Party of India (CPI), the second largest constituent of the LDF, boycotted the Cabinet meeting citing Chandy’s presence. The action against Chandy was initiated by the revenue department, which is controlled by the CPI.
It is learned that he submitted the resignation on the condition that he will be reinstated if his move to challenge the high court order in Supreme Court succeeds. Obliging him, Pinarayi has reportedly decided to keep the place vacant till either Saseendran is exonerated or Chandy gets a clean chit from Supreme Court. Both are the only members of their party National Congress Party (NCP).
A division bench of the high court dismissed the petition saying that the action was against the collective responsibility of the cabinet.
Pinarayi dismissed the high court’s observation as baseless. He said the government could not agree with the observation. “The delay in seeking the resignation of the NRI-turned politician was because of coalition compulsions and legal issues involved in the matter,” he added.
Pinarayi, took the decision to boycott cabinet meeting seriously and questioned their right to question the presence of the minister as long as he continued in the ministry.
“The CPI ministers’ decision to keep off the Cabinet meeting is unusual. It should have never happened. The cabinet is a forum to discuss all issues. The CPI could have come to the Cabinet and aired their concerns,” he added.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress said on CPI action that it proved LDF had sidelined its collective responsibility. He demanded the immediate resignation of Pinarayi and the dissolution of the LDF.
“A party boycotting the Cabinet meeting is an unprecedented development in Kerala. It is an open expression of the lack of faith of the party’s ministers in the chief minister. Pinarayi, who has failed to conduct a Cabinet meeting properly, has no moral and legal right to continue,” he said.
According to an affidavit filed by Chandy before the Election Commission, he has assets worth Rs 97.23 crore. Chandy, who entered politics through a party worker of Kerala Student Union (KSU) and then in Youth Congress, went to Kuwait in search of greener pastures, following in the footsteps of many Keralites. He took the plunge into politics after he returned from Kuwait flush with cash.
Suspicion over his riches was raised in political circles after he was convicted in the Kuwait Indian School Scam, which involved siphoning off the funds by Chandy and his associates in the wake of Iraq’s attack on Kuwait in the 1990s.
Chandy’s resignation is a big morale booster to the CPI, which locked horns with Pinarayi and his party over encroachments in the tourist hotspot of Munnar in Idukki district.
The relation between Revenue Minister E Chandrashekharan and Pinarayi soured after Devikulam sub-collector Sriram Ventakaraman was shunted out after he, with Chandrashekharan’s backing, took on the powerful real estate and resort mafia.
Political observers believe that Pinarayi and his party acted against Chandy because of the steadfast position taken by the CPI.
They believe that his involvement in the Kuwait Indian school scam and the needle of suspicion raised against him in the Kiliroor sex scandal may undermine the LDF’s moral plank.
The school scam involved siphoning off Rs. 40 crore belonging to a school run by Indian community in Kuwait during Iraqi occupation of the country. The money was allegedly looted by Chandy and three members of an ad hoc committee established to manage the school after war.
While Chandy was convicted along with two other Keralites in the school scam, he was given a clean chit by the Kerala police in the case related to the rape and impregnation of the teenage girl at Kiliroor in Kottayam district.