IN a major blow to the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala just a few months ahead of assembly polls, excise and port minister K Babu was forced to tender his resignation in connection with the bar bribery scam. Babu is the second member in the Oommen Chandy cabinet to fall in the bar bribery case after Kerala Congress(M) leader and Finance Minister K M Mani resigned in last November.

Babu’s resignation came following an order of Thrissur Vigilance Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge S S Vasan asking the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register a case against the minister in the bar licence renewal case and proceed with investigation. The state government’s deft move to obtain a stay order from the high court failed. Even then, the chief minister did not accept the resignation and forwarded the letter to the Governor.

The inquiry order against Babu was based on a complaint lodged by an activist, who quoted statement of Biju Ramesh, a bar owner, alleging the excise minister had demanded Rs 10 crore as bribe for re-opening the bars. Ramesh had also stated publicly that the bar owners had paid Rs 50 lakh as advance to the minister on October 31 last year. When the court asked whether VACB had completed the preliminary inquiry, the additional legal advisor to the bureau responded in the negative. The judge wondered whether VACB was behaving like a mythological warrior Arjuna who had lost Gandeeva, his vital weapon. The judge also ordered a quick verification report which he said could be completed within 10 days if VACB was earnest.

The trouble for the Congress and UDF began from the day the government decided to come out with a liquor policy. That would in effect to regulate liquor trade and shut liquor bars in the state in phases. A series of political controversies and court cases forced the government to take harsh decisions on shutting down all liquor bars in the name of prohibition. The woes began soon after this with bribery charges being first levelled against Mani and then Babu. It is also an irony that the bar bribery case should continue to haunt UDF despite the liquor policy being upheld by the Supreme Court. 

The CPI(M)-led LDF took up the issue of corruption. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan led Nava Kerala March which has been attracting huge crowd across the state. Nava Kerala March already covered five northern districts. A corruption- and communalism-free Kerala and development of the state are the main focus of the Nava Kerala March. State Congress president V M Sudheeran is also leading a march from the state’s north to south but failed to attract the imagination of the people.

The resignation of Babu intensified factionalism in the Congress. A group, led by chief minister Chandy himself, is wary over the fact that they are being targeted ahead of the assembly elections. They are holding Ramesh Chennithala, who held the vigilance portfolio, responsible for the circumstances that led to the ouster of their key man Babu. Though the bar owners had alleged that they had bribed Chennithala and Sivakumar too, no action has been taken against them.

After two ministers’ resignation within two months, the opposition LDF is training its guns on Chandy. With assembly election just a couple of months away, the Left is taking no chance to cash in on the resignations of corruption charges to corner the Oommen Chandy led UDF government. The budget session of the assembly, the final session of the government, set to be stormy with the opposition attempting to carry on the tempo. CPI(M) leaders have unanimously demanded for the resignation of the chief minister. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that the allegation against the ministers point towards the chief minister. There are already allegations that it was the chief minister who has sent the bar hotel owners to the ministers. It is high time the chief minister also resign, Balakrishnan said. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan said the corruption charges against Babu were probed in a proper manner, the chief minister would also have been trapped.