Jose K Mani gives clean chit to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in gold smuggling case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jose K. Mani, chairman of the third biggest ally in the ruling Left government in Kerala, on Wednesday gave a clean chit to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who is caught in a massive allegation that he and his family were involved in smuggling gold and currency.

Jose is the son of the founder of Kerala Congress (Mani) late K.M. Mani, who faced big protest in 2014 when he was the state Finance Minister, after Vijayan and the then Left opposition went hammer and tongs against him on bar bribery scam.

The case began in October 2014 when a bar owner Biju Ramesh alleged that Mani was given Rs 1 crore as bribe by Kerala's bar owners to see that the 418 closed bars in the state are reopened. Mani had to face the wrath of the protesters both inside and outside of the assembly, which saw one of the worst ever tumultuous scenes on the floor of the assembly, the day he presented his 13th state budget.

The then Left opposition was after Mani's blood to quit, which he eventually did in November 2015 following a remark in the Kerala High Court.

A year later, Mani got a clean chit in the case and by then the Left opposition had given enough hiccups to the 82-year-old veteran.

Later after K.M. Mani passed away in 2019, the relation Jose and his faction had with the Congress led UDF got strained beyond repair and stunned one and all as he along with his supporters joined the Left Democratic Front as an ally and today one of his legislator is a Minister in the Vijayan cabinet.

And on Wednesday, when Vijayan is passing through one of his worst times on account of the allegation levelled by gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh which started on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, Jose and his party leadership got together and passed a resolution giving a clean chit to Vijayan.

Speaking to media, Jose said the present allegations raised against Vijayan is part of a larger conspiracy. "This particular allegation was once thrown out by the people of Kerala and raking it up again shows the way how politics is being practised. The people who threw this out, will again do the same thing as this is nothing but cheap politics," said Jose, presently a member of the upper house of parliament. Jose's party has five MLAs in the present assembly. (IANS)

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