By Liz Mathew, IANS
New Delhi : At war in the state and allies at the centre, the Congress in Kerala is readying for an agitation against the Left government on corruption even as the two parties prepare to welcome their presidential nominee Pratibha Patil in Thiruvananthapuram Thursday.
Leaders of the two groups met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh together Wednesday to seek central assistance to tackle floods, but did not address the customary joint press conference. It was left to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to do that alone, without opposition leader and his predecessor Ooommen Chandy.
Whatever the differences, the two opposing groups will be putting up a united front when Patil arrives in the state capital as part of her nationwide tour ahead of the July 19 presidential election.
"We will welcome the presidential candidate (Patil) together as she is the nominee supported by both Left and the Congress," Achuthanandan said Wednesday.
In what is typical of the two parties' complex relationship, Chandy swore that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) would extend all support for the state government's move to recover encroached land in Munnar, but was equally vehement that they would "nail" the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led government's corruption deals.
"The CPI-M-led government had always attacked us alleging corruption. But now its clear that it is the party that is festering with corruption," Chandy told IANS here.
"We are going to launch a statewide agitation from Saturday against the corruption in the CPI-M and the government," he said.
He was referring to the recent instances of two senior CPI-M leaders alleged to have taken money from tainted businessmen.
K. Venugopal, general manager of the party's Malayalam language mouthpiece Deshabhimani, has been expelled from the party following complaints that he had accepted Rs.100 million as bribe from a tainted businessman to help hush up cases against him.
Another leader E.P. Jayarajan has been accused of accepting Rs.200 million from lottery kingpin Santiago Martin for the newspaper. In a damage-control exercise, the CPI-M's state unit had announced that it would return the money to the lottery king.
The opposition's decision to intensify its attack on the government is likely to widen the gap between the two groups, which are together at the national level. The Left parties extend crucial outside support to the Congress-led government at the centre.
Questioning the logic behind the CPI-M's move to silence the opposition by taking disciplinary action against the corrupted leaders and not legal action, Chandy said: "The CPI-M was trying to bring a new law to the state in which a thief could get away once he returns the stolen things if he is caught."
Chandy has also alleged that there was no "transparency" in the latest demolition drive in the hill station of Munnar initiated by the chief minister.
"The eviction drive began with good intention. But then they issued a circular exempting party offices and monuments. Although the circular was withdrawn, there is no transparency in the move now," he said.
Nonetheless, the Congress would support the eviction drive against encroachers and the proposal to bring a law to regulate operation of retail giants in the state.