Strong political headwinds will likely beset the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government when the Kerala Legislative Assembly convenes for a four-day session on Monday.
Chastened by the defeat in the Puthuppally Assembly byelection, the treasury benches will encounter a pugnacious Opposition gingered up by Chandy Oommen’s decisive win in the constituency held for 53 years by his late father and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
Potent ammunition
The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) scents that it has potent ammunition to notch up a few political victories against the government. For one, it seeks to assail the government using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)‘s purported court filing that a few LDF leaders conspired to falsely implicate Chandy in a sexual wrongdoing case linked to the 2016 solar scam.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan held Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accountable for referring slanderous accusations against Chandy to the CBI on the eve of the 2021 Assembly elections to wring political advantage. He said the hurtful false case weighed on Chandy and his family until the CBI absolved the departed leader of misconduct in early 2023.
Mr. Satheesan said the wheel had turned full circle for Mr. Vijayan, and Puthuppally had punished him for past errors. Nevertheless, the final reckoning was far from over and would reflect in future elections.
Karuvannur case
The Congress would also spotlight the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) investigation into Communist Party of India (Marxist) [(CPI(M)] leaders on money laundering charges linked to the ₹370-crore Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam, especially the questioning of A.C. Moideen, MLA, on Monday.
The UDF also plans to breathe new life into earlier accusations of corruption against Mr. Vijayan, his office and his family. It would portray Mr Vijayan’s “obstinate refusal” to answer the charges or face the media as an “admission of guilt”.
On media
The CPI(M) perceives that the “heavily massed and high-decibel foghorns of the right-wing corporate media” sought to cast the government under a permanent cloud of suspicion. It is poised to use the Assembly session to “break the sound wall that drowns the LDF’s narrative” and “unfairly advantages” the Opposition.
Meanwhile, expectations are high that Mr. Vijayan would decisively blunt the UDF’s accusations on the floor.
