THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three days after the Jose K Mani faction announced its decision to join the Left Democratic Front, a 2016 report containing the findings of a Kerala Congress (M) probe accusing Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala of conspiring against former KC(M) chairman K M Mani surfaced on Sunday.The report by KC(M) leader the late C F Thomas said Chennithala, who was the home minister then, conspired to topple finance minister Mani in the bar scam.
The report added that Oommen Chandy — the chief minister — was aware of the conspiracy in which Congress leaders Joseph Vazhakkan and Adoor Prakash as well as Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) leader P C George, MLA, and KC(B) chairman R Balakrishna Pillai also played crucial roles.Interestingly, the report has surfaced at a time when the bar scam has become a hot topic of discussion following Jose’s decision to join the Left front, which had cornered Mani over the issue.
The ‘I’ group, headed by Chennithala, termed the allegations baseless while Jose denied knowing anything about the leaked report. Mani had formed a team led by C F Thomas and consisting of party leaders Joy Abraham, Francis George and Antony Raju in 2014 to probe the alleged conspiracy.
However, not convinced with the report, Mani and Jose contracted a private agency to conduct a detailed probe, the findings of which are yet to be released. P J Joseph faction leader Johnny Nellore told TNIE that the leaked report is bogus.
“The script of this leaked report was hatched at the AKG Centre on Friday when Jose K Mani visited there. His credibility among people has hit rock bottom. The absurdity of the report is that it shows Francis George, who was one of the members in the C F Thomas-led probe team, as a conspirator,” said Johnny.
Chennithala has decided not to react to the issue at this juncture while his trusted lieutenant Vazhakkan told TNIE that C F Thomas himself had denied in 2016 about such a report.
“Jose has distanced himself from such a report and maintained that it’s not the private agency’s findings. This is nothing but a troll by the Jose camp to tarnish the image of Chennithala and the Congress,” said Vazhakkan.The report alleged that the conspiracy on the bar bribery was hatched at a government guest house in Mundakkayam in the presence of a lawyer from Ernakulam. Other than the leaders, former vigilance director Jacob Thomas, former vigilance superintendent R Sukeshan who probed the bar scam and bar owner Biju Ramesh were also present.
The report also said that there was a move to replace Oommen Chandy with Chennithala as CM. It is claimed that Chennithala called on Mani with this request, which was turned down. Following this, the bar bribery scam came out in the open. There was a dispute between Adoor Prakash and the senior Mani over the issue of title deeds which led to their fallout. This led Prakash to join hands with his son’s future father-in-law Biju Ramesh, who raised the bar scam.