Kochi: The grand announcement by Kerala Congress Leader K M Mani about his political party moving out of the current political alliance UDF is based on an imminent threat from the ruling LDF Government in Kerala. Mani obviously fears a reprobe into the bar graft case in which he allegedly accepted bribe in return for doing favours to private liquor bar owners in Kerala.
Even though the report submitted by the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau under the current Government gave a clean chit to Mani in the case, the sword of Damocles still hangs above him and his family. The ruling Left Democratic government led by CPM can order a fresh reprobe into Mani’s corruption case, if it chooses to.
This strengthens the view that K M Mani, a clever politician, decided to ditch his own political allies and move into a neutral political zone, temporarily.
Mani’s apparent goal is to strengthen his political party in the next one year, but political analysts do not buy this argument. Mani never wants his political party to grow beyond the realm of his family’s fiefdom. He does not want to be another Kerala Congress leader like R Balakrishna Pillai who suffered the ignominy of going to jail in a corruption case.
In short, Mani has set fire to his UDF camp house to appease the powers that be, the LDF Government, in return for a favour which is apparent.
