Both the ruling and Opposition fronts in Kerala have been buffeted by allegations of corruption as each looks to upstage the other in the poll-bound state.
The ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front has landed in choppy waters in the aftermath of the gold smuggling case in which a powerful bureaucrat who ran the chief minister’s office was accused of having links with one of the key accused. Now, another angle has been injected into the case with the state CPM chief’s son getting embroiled in a drugs case in Bangalore that has been linked to the smuggling case.
However, the Congress-led United Democratic Front is also on the back foot as an MLA of the combine and another influential leader have been booked for swindling depositors out of crores of rupees through a gold scheme.
The CPM has pointed out that Bineesh Kodiyeri, the businessman son of Kerala unit secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan is not a member of the party. Balakrishnan has made it clear that there is no question of defending his son if he is found guilty.
The IUML, a constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, has decided to remove Manjeshwar MLA M.C. Kamaruddin from the post of Kasaragod district president of the UDF. Kamaruddin and the managing director of his Fashion Gold Jewellery, T.P. Pookaya Thangal, have been accused of cheating depositors in a gold scheme. Pookaya Thangal is also a Kasaragod district working committee member of the IUML
“The party is with the depositors and we have asked Kamaruddin to produce details of his assets and liabilities by September 30 and return the depositors’ money within six months,” IUML general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty told a media conference in Malappuram on Thursday. “Let law take its course. But Kamaruddin has agreed to return all the money,” he added.
While there is no clear estimate of the total amount, the CPM claims that Kamaruddin owed more than Rs 150 crore to his depositors in Kasaragod and Kannur.
As of Thursday, 35 complaints have been filed against the IUML duo.
With complaints piling up, the IUML and the UDF had been increasingly under pressure to act against the two leaders.
While Bineesh coming under the lens investigating agencies would have otherwise given a handle to the Opposition UDF, eyeing power in next year’s Kerala elections, it has held back from a full-fledged attack because of the cheating controversy its own leaders have got entangled in.
Bineesh was on Wednesday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for 12 hours in connection with the seizure of gold smuggled in from the UAE at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in July. Sources said he was now likely to be summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau over the drugs bust in Bangalore that has led to the arrests of two top actresses, an event organiser and some suspected drug peddlers. The call records of one of the suspected drug peddlers suggest that he had been in touch with Bineesh.
Bineesh has expressed shock at the alleged involvement of Anoop Mohammed in the drugs racket but conceded that he is a friend. The agencies are probing if the drug peddlers had helped the accused in the gold smuggling case.
The CPM has pointed out that Bineesh is not a CPM member but Kamaruddin and Pookoya Thangal are highly respected leaders of the IUML.
Balakrishnan has backed a full-fledged investigation on whether his son had any links with those arrested in the drugs case. “If he deserves to be hanged, so be it. Nobody is going to protect him if he has done anything unlawful,” the CPM state secretary said recently.
While the IUML had been hesitant to even make a public statement on Kamaruddin’s cheating case until on Thursday, ally Congress has also been mute on the issue. Instead, state Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran on Thursday demanded the resignation of the CPM state secretary since the ED had questioned his son.
Kasaragod district CPM secretary M.V. Balakrishnan said there was no parallel between the two cases haunting the LDF and the UDF.
“Bineesh is not even a member of the CPM and his father has made it clear that the law should take its course. But Kamaruddin and Pookoya Thangal are senior leaders of the IUML,” he told The Telegraph.
“As of today there are 749 depositors who had deposited from a few thousands to Rs 2 crore and above (in the gold scheme). Many of them had deposited their life’s savings trusting the IUML leaders,” he added.
With the local elections a month away and the Assembly elections next summer, both fronts are trying to ensure the controversies don’t affect their fortunes.