Another messy controversy centred around child-abuse-case convict and alleged fake antiquities dealer Monson Mavunkal appears to dog the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
Monson’s reported deposition, during an in-camera court proceeding on Monday, that the police coerced him to implicate Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran in the child-abuse case at the peril of his family’s well-being sent ripples across the political spectrum.
The Congress reacted explosively to the debatable report. Mr. Sudhakaran said a conspiracy was afoot at the government level to turn the child-abuse-case victim against him. He said court records revealed no case against him, a fact confirmed by the Crime Branch. “The evidence of the plot to concoct a false testimony against me will emerge in the public domain soon,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the CPI(M)‘s lackeys in the Police department prosecuted the party’s vendetta politics at the behest of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). Mr. Sudhakaran was its latest quarry. He said the CPI(M)‘s liveried flunkeys in the police, acting as the party’s cat’s paw, spitefully implicated Mr. Sudhakaran in Monson’s financial dealings. However, the move flopped, with Monson denying the charge and pointing fingers at the Chief Minister’s “PS”.
‘Planted report’
Mr. Satheesan said Mr. Govindan divulged the contours of the plot earlier by claiming that Mr. Sudhakaran was the target of a Monson-related child-abuse-case probe. “Mr. Govindan pointed to a planted report in his party’s newspaper to back his claim,” Mr. Satheesan said. The Congress would sue him and the newspaper for libel.
Self-inflicted injury
The CPI(M) appeared to maintain an aura of invincibility in the face of the attack, having won the 2021 Assembly elections despite being dogged by scandals. However, an LDF insider privately maintained that a few alliance partners felt the current crack in the ruling front’s image was a self-inflicted injury.
A besieged mentality has seemingly helped the Congress stave off infighting over reorganisation and close ranks against the ruling front. The Congress is gathering political and legal ammunition to assail the government by portraying it as a clique run by a conspiratorial few.
Kerala seems set for another season of supercharged political strife.
