In Kerala, a book creates a ripple: Why it has put Congress in a spot

The bar bribery scandal of 2014, which had rocked the then Congress-led UDF regime in Kerala, is back on the front burner of political debate in the state.

Late K M Mani, a veteran of regional party Kerala Congress (M), was then forced to quit as the Finance Minister in the wake of the scandal — he was accused of pocketing Rs 1 crore from bar hotel owners to renew their liquor licence. Mani died in April 2019.

In his autobiography, which was released here on Thursday, Mani wrote that senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who had been the Home Minister in the UDF regime, took a stand against him (ordered vigilance probe into the allegations) because he (Mani) did not put his weight behind the demand to make Chennithala the chief minister.

The autobiography, titled Athmakatha, was released by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who handed over a copy to Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer.

When the bar bribery scandal emerged, Oommen Chandy was the Chief Minister and Chennithala was the second-in-command in the Cabinet, holding home and vigilance portfolios. Being leaders of two power groups in the Congress, both were at loggerheads and Chennithala had looked for a change of leadership in the government.

Mani, in the autobiography released posthumously, wrote, “Two days after a bar owner raised the allegation against me, a probe was ordered by Chennithala. It looked as if they were waiting to hear an allegation. Had Chennithala considered the propriety of issuing such an order against a senior colleague like me, it (the probe) would not have happened. That I did not favour a change of leadership (in the UDF) to help Chennithala become the chief minister might have influenced the decision to order the probe. He might have seen the