A combative Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has asserted that veteran Cabinet colleague and Finance Minister KM Mani will present the state budget in the State Assembly at the appointed hour tomorrow.
He said this while responding to a motion of adjournment sought to be moved by the Opposition which has reiterated that it would not allow the ‘tainted minister to perform the chore tomorrow,’ come what may.
Leader of Opposition VS Achuthanandan said that ‘shamefully defaced’ Mani would try to steamroll the Opposition challenge only at the risk of sparking tension and trouble elsewhere.
He was alluding to the masses of Opposition parties being commandeered from here as well as neighbouring districts to ring-fence the Assembly Complex and block Mani with budget papers on their way.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said in his spirited defence of the Finance Minister that Opposition allegations suggesting Mani’s misdemeanours lacked conviction.
The Opposition has managed to incite interested parties to come up from nowhere with CD transcripts which Chandy ridiculed as indefensible evidence to prove Mani’s culpability in the bar bribe case.
MAY STAY BACK
If the Opposition is convinced that they have a watertight case against the Finance Minister, it must give it in writing, the Chief Minister said.
Taking the floor later, Mani said he refused to be cowed down by the Opposition threat to lock out the Assembly Complex from outside to prevent him from exercising his Constitutional right.
“My hands are clean,” he said amidst heckling. “I’ve been through the grind for no less than 50 years. Nobody should entertain hopes of scaring me into submission. All allegations are politically motivated.”
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports suggest that the Finance Minister has decided to stay back in the Assembly Complex on Budget eve to ensure a smooth entry into the House tomorrow morning.
EXTRA VIGIL
This is as unprecedented as it comes, even as Opposition leaders have not exactly opened their mind on the nature of protests that they are planning for tomorrow.
Thousands of cadres belonging to the Opposition parties as well as Bharatiya Janatha Yuva Morcha are expected to descend on the capital city by this evening.
A 2,000-strong posse of police is being pressed into service for duty through the day and into tomorrow morning. The budget speech is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
The police are already on extra vigil as the capital city has been put on standby in the context of the Prime Minister’s ongoing tour of the four Indian Ocean island countries, including Sri Lanka.