The Congress camp in Kerala is tense on the eve of the vigilance court sitting here on Monday to decide whether Opposition leader Oommen Chandy should be made an accused in the palm oil case.
Top leaders of the Congress as well as the United Democratic Front, including Union defence minister A.K. Antony, are in the state, discussing the fallout of an adverse verdict.
Both KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and Union civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi have reiterated their faith in the leadership of Mr Chandy, who was chief minister for a brief stint after Mr Antony stepped down in 2004.
Because the trend in Kerala has been power alternating between coalitions every five years, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was sitting pretty and Mr Chandy was also expected to get the Congress high command nod to head the Cabinet.
But the Left Democratic Front government’s attempt to make Mr Chandy an accused in the palm oil case by seeking further probe into his role in it has created consternation.
The case involved the import 15,000 tonnes of palm oil by the Karunakaran government in 1992, when Mr Chandy was finance minister. The state government now says that Mr Chandy “abetted” the corrupt deal.
Mr Chandy is on record that he will fight it “morally and legally”. Congressmen would only be happy to rally behind him in exercising his legal options if the verdict goes against him.
But it’s Mr Chandy’s stress on the moral aspect of the verdict that worries the Congress and the rest of the UDF leaders. Given his track record, he would opt out of the poll fray.
“I will not cling to technicalities,” he said. “For me, there’s absolutely no tension because I repose faith in the people and my conscience is my sheet anchor of faith.”
But his followers are sullen. “We’ve no other leader in the poll campaign who has as much mass appeal as Mr Chandy,” said Congress legislator Adoor Prakash.