People's Democracy

KERALA PALMOLINE CASE

Chief Minister

Comes under Fire

IN a major development which has come as a big embarrassment to the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Congress which leads it, the Vigilance Court has ordered a probe to find out the chief minister Oommen Chandy’s role, if any, in the infamous palmolien import case. The court also rejected a report of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau which stated that there was no scope for an investigation against Oommen Chandy.

One notes that the first report, submitted by the said bureau in May last, had stated that there was no need for further probe or to add any more names to the list of the accused. While rejecting this report, the court headed by special judge, S Jagadeesh, had then given three months time to the bureau to file another report. Later, the vigilance investigators filed another report stating that there was no evidence to include Chandy’s or any other name in the list of the accused. This was filed a few days before Oommen Chandy was sworn in as the chief minister. This has now been rejected by the Vigilance Court.

Significantly, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau comes under Department of Home which Oommen Chandy has kept with himself.

NOTORIOUS

OIL DEAL

It is noteworthy that when some revelation about the palmolien case was made in the midst of the election campaigning for the 13th Kerala assembly, Mustafa, himself an accused, mentioned Oommen Chandy’s name too in his discharge petition. Soon after this revelation, the erstwhile LDF government filed a petition seeking further investigation into the case. The petition clearly stated that still more persons were likely to figure as accused.

It is also notable that Oommen Chandy was the finance minister in the K Karunakaran ministry in Kerala, which struck the deal for import of 32,000 tonnes of palmolien oil from Malaysia in such a way that it caused a loss of Rs 2.3 crore to the state’s exchequer. Chandy is thus a witness in the case.

While the case had the then chief minister, late K Karunakaran, as the accused number one, it also caused the resignation of accused number six, P J Thomas, from the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) under the union government. Thomas was the food secretary during the tenure of Karunakaran’s ministry.

Though the Vigilance Court in its verdict did not mention Oommen Chandy’s name, it rejected the argument tendered by the bureau that Chandy was not aware of the deal as the files were kept on the finance minister’s table for about two months.

Soon after the verdict pronounced by the Vigilance Court, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by it demanded immediate resignation of the chief minister as he had lost the moral right to continue in the office. The case got a new and significant turn when veteran Congress leader T H Mustafa accused that Oommen Chandy had had knowledge about the palmolien deal.

This latest development in the case occurred soon after the Karnataka’s BJP chief minister Yedyurappa had had to resign after the Lokayukta indicted him. Since then, demands for the resignation of Oommen Chandy had been coming up from various quarters. CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said Oommen Chandy has lost the legal as well as moral right to continue as the chief minister. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandhan also demanded  Oommen Chandy’s resignation. "He has no option other than resigning," he said. The judge's order was as good as a verdict since it rejected the investigator's report that there was no evidence to include Chandy in the list of the accused. Achuthanandhan recalled that Chandy was reported to have told the Congress High Command on the eve of the assembly polls that he would not accept any post if the legal process cast any shadow on him. "I hope he will keep his word. Now it is up to him to take the decision. He has no option but to quit," he said. 

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and former home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan strongly reacted to the reports that Oommen Chandy had expressed his desire to quit but the UDF leaders were trying to persuade him to desist from such a move. He said Oommen Chandy must resign forthwith.  On the other hand, leaders of the Congress and the UDF have ruled out the possibility of Oommen Chandy’s resignation.

VIGILANCE

REMOVED

With pressure mounting on Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy to resign in the wake of Vigilance Court’s indictment against him in the Palmolien case, the ruling United Democratic Front removed the portfolio of Vigilance from the chief minister and entrusted it to his lieutenant, revenue minister, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.

Announcing this decision in Thiruvananthapuram on August 9, Oommen Chandy said that he has full faith in the judiciary. At the same time he expressed his willingness to resign and sought more time to decide on the resignation. The chief minister expressed this feeling in a meeting of the select committee of Home department.

Reacting to the development, the CPI(M) state secretariat demanded that Oommen Chandy must quit immediately. Briefing the media in the capital, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said that mere change of portfolio will not help the CM to escape the moral responsibility as the court has found prima facie evidence against him in the case.  Moreover with the Vigilance department under the control of General Administration Department, that is still with the CM, this change of portfolio is nothing but a farce, said Vijayan. In this circumstance the vigilance enquiry will not be impartial, he felt.

He criticised the Congress leaders’ abuse against the judiciary and termed it as unwarranted and as a clear case of contempt of court. Reminding that this is the first time in the history of Kerala that a chief minister was facing a Vigilance enquiry, Vijayan demanded that if Oommen Chandy is politically dignified he must immediately step down.

The LDF convenor Vaikom Viswon and Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan also demanded the resignation of Oommen Chandy. Meanwhile, youth and student organisations held huge marches across the state demanding the resignation of the chief minister. In many cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kochi, DYFI activists burnt the effigy of the chief minister.