Case against Karunakaran stirs hornest's nest in Kerala politics

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala government's decision to start fresh criminal proceedings against Congress leader Kunnoth Karunakaran in the 1991 palmoline-fraud case has stirred up a hornet's nest among the Opposition in the state.

The entire United Democratic Front Opposition, led by the Congress, staged a walkout from the state assembly on Tuesday, alleging that the action was 'politically motivated.'

The six-year-old case has that Karunkaran, when he was state chief minister, conspired with two private firms and, taking pecuniary advantage of his position, made a cool Rs 280 million in a deal for importing palmoline.

Despite the case being dismissed by both the state high court and the Supreme Court earlier, the E K Nayanar government had instituted a vigilance inquiry into the matter soon after it assumed power in May, 1996. Now, first information reports against Karunakaran, his cabinet colleague T H Mustafa and five others, have been filed before a Special Vigilance Court.

What has irked the Opposition the most is that the FIR was filled on Nayanar's specific instructions.

Incidentally, this is the second vigilance case which Karunakaran is confronting after he lost the 1996 general election from Thrissur. The other case pending against him is a public interest litigation for acquiring wealth beyond his means.

Nayanar, on his part, defends the decision saying that the Left Democratic Front is committed to 'root out corruption' from all places. His government, he reminds, has suspended over 160 officials including former chief secretary R Ramachandran Nair.

Nayanar, who himself controls the vigilance department, is believed to have directed the agency to register corruption cases against former state power minister R Balakrishna Pillai, former excise minister Raghuchandra and former irrigation minister T M Jacob.