THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The bar bribery scam continues to haunt the government in the Assembly, with Opposition LDF staging a walkout demanding the arrest of Finance Minister K M Mani. The uproar over adjournment motion turned out to be an occasion for the government and opposition to challenge each other over K M Mani presenting the budget on Friday.
Moving an adjournment motion, Opposition alleged that the government was trying to sabotage the probe. Referring to the arrest and imprisonment of James Mathew MLA, the opposition came down heavily on the government for differential treatment.
Responding to the notice, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala rejected the allegations and added that the probe was on in an impartial manner. “Report would be submitted before the court. Currently court scrutiny is on,” he said. At no point, the government intervened in the probe. The fact that an FIR has been registered in the case, is ample evidence that the government has nothing to conceal, he said.
Earlier raising the issue in the notice for adjournment motion, S Sharma lambasted the government. He hinted at a political conspiracy in the issue, as Mani is the leader of a major constituent of the UDF and any action against him would affect the government’s stability. Mani has no moral and ethical right to continue as minister, he said.
When an FIR was registered against James Mathew MLA, he was arrested and put behind bars. But in Mani’s case even after the FIR, no action had been taken. Oral, documentary and circumstantial evidence point to the fact that Mani had sought and accepted bribe from bar hotel owners. So far no raids were carried out at Mani’s house to collect the material evidence, he added. With Deputy Speaker N Sakthan denying permission for the adjournment motion, the Opposition staged a walkout.
Mani challenged
The House on Tuesday witnessed another challenge from the Opposition benches when James Mathew, who was recently arrested by the Sreekandapuram Police and put in jail, challenged Mani to go to prison. He also said that in the solar scam case, remarks were made by the court against the Chief Minister also. During the discussion, James Mathew narrated his arrest episode on February 27.