There are fresh rumblings in the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala over the 'prejudiced' treatment meted out to former finance minister KM Mani in the bar bribery case.
Sympathisers have alleged a loaded bias against Mani compared with Excise Minister K Babu against whom the same complainant has raised charges of culpability in the same case.
The burden of their argument is that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau applied different yardsticks while dealing with similar charges of graft raised by by bar owner and hotelier Biju Ramesh.
In Mani's case, a 'quick verification' report had pointed to a 'cognisable offence' entailing the registration of a case against him in December last year.
But in Babu's case, a 'less-potent preliminary report' filed in June this year had found no evidence to warrant his prosecution. But both stand accused by the same complainant in the very same case.
This is what has baffled observers here, and even emboldened Mani, while speaking to news channels, to imply that Babu managed to slip out easily but which he later denied.
INTENSE MEDIA GLARE
That Mani should have been subjected to intense media glare and protracted inquiry during the past one year did not help matters either. Babu was treated with kid gloves, his detractors in the government charge.
Mani was quoted as saying that while the bribery charge was based on hearsay in his case, the complainant had gone on record saying that Rs 1 crore was handed out to K Babu in person.
This is what prompted PJ Kurien, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha and a senior Congress leader, to observe that differential treatment looks to have been meted out to the two in the same and similar case.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy came up with the defence that mere allegations are no ground to act against any of his colleagues. Mani's was a fait accompli forced by adverse court comments.
FRESH FUEL
The last word in the controversy has not been said, leaving the four-and-half-year-old government to fight hard to maintain its tenuous hold on to power in the 140-member House.
It enjoys a wafer-thin majority of six in the House in which the Kerala Congress (Mani), which is fighting an internal dissension over Mani's resignation, has nine members.
Adding fresh fuel to the controversy and causing further heartburn for Chief Minister Chandy is the threat from bar owner Ramesh who has gone on record saying he would move the State High Court against Excise Minister Babu.
The latter put up a brave face, dismissing the allegations as a figment of imagination and triggered by the spite for his having initiated legal proceedings against Ramesh for raising these charges earlier.