Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has admitted to pressure from both the Congress party as well as the United Democratic Front in the bar bribery case.

He said this in the State Assembly in reply to an Opposition member’s query whether the Minister stood by his musings to the effect made public in a Face Book post.

Fresh ammunition This seemed to provided the Opposition with enough ammunition to launch a fusillade against the government on a day when the Assembly convened after a recess occasioned by the Aruvikkara by-poll.

The Opposition grilled the Minister on which party or Cabinet colleague had exerted pressure on him. Chennithala merely said the government had not given in to any pressure and had not interfered with the investigations into the case at any stage.

Adjournment move Earlier, the Opposition targeted Speaker N Sakthan after he sought to rule against a notice for an adjournment motion on the bar bribery case. The Speaker’s comment that the Opposition had plotted its latest move based on reports appearing in the press was apparently the provocation.

The government announced on Sunday that the Vigilance Bureau had not found any ground to proceed against Finance Minister KM Mani in the case.

S Sarma of CPI(M), who piloted the adjournment motion, alleged that the clean chit for the Finance Minister was masterminded by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. The ‘favourable’ Vigilance report was ‘procured for a price’ by the government, Sarma charged.

The Speaker contended that the Vigilance has not yet referred its final report to the court. But Deputy Leader of the Opposition Kodiyeri Balakrishnan took the floor and said the Speaker should not be seen as taking sides with the government and articulating its views.

If the Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has indeed briefed the Speaker on this important matter, he should come clean with it and table the documents, he said.

Aruvikkara results The Assembly resumed its session on the eve of declaration of results of the by-poll to the Aruvikkara constituency, polling for which had concluded on Saturday.

Counting will start at 8 am on Tuesday, and the winner will be declared before noon, according to official sources.

KS Sabarinathan of Congress, son of former Speakder G Karthikeyan who passed away necessitating the by-poll, took on M Vijayakumar of the CPI(M) and O Rajagopal of the BJP in a tough three-cornered fight.

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