With several controversies hitting the LDF government in the State recently, the people are furious and cautious over whether their expectations over the Pinarayi Vijayan government would ever be met.
After the new government was sworn in on May 25, 2016, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s style of functioning and the projects he announced focusing on development and social welfare had evoked certain hope in the people. It is true that the voters had not wished for any miracle when they chose LDF over corrupt-UDF. But they had expected that the Left government’s path would be different from that of the UDF, which faced several controversies and allegations. All was well until E P Jayarajan, who was the biggest name in the LDF cabinet after the CM, was forced to resign as the Industries Minister following allegations of nepotism.
Not so late, there came the latest one in the form of Power Minister M M Mani. Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Judge, who rejected the discharge petition filed by Mani, ruled that the CPI-M veteran would remain to be an accused in the infamous Anchery Baby murder case. The controversy over Mani remaining in the cabinet even after the court rule was taken to a new level with veteran leader and Administrative Reforms Commission chairman V S Achuthanandan coming up against Mani and writing to the central leadership of the party seeking his removal. Achuthanandan, in the letter, reminded the central leadership of its earlier direction that a person who faces trial in a case should not remain in any elected post. Although CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan refused to react to move of the veteran leader, it has to be understood that certain quarters have begun efforts to put the government in trouble by adding fuel to the controversy.
There are some in the party who see some hidden motives behind the move of Achuthanandan against Mani, who was once a close aide of the nonagenarian. They suspect that the move of VS was a part of the plan to make CM Vijayan more ‘anxious’ as the trial in the SNC-Lavalin case is all set to begin on January 4. In M M Mani’s case, it was a lack of vigilance from the part of party leadership while choosing a person to a key post that put the government in such a trouble. Mani, a murder accused, was chosen for the minister post not because the party had no one else eligible for the position. And, there is no need to remind Pinarayi Vijayan that he can rule the state well only if he can put an end to the controversies and the in-fights within the party.