Vijayan takes fight into enemy camp, orders Vigilance probe against Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 21 : On expected lines, beleaguered Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is mired in grave scams and allegations, on Saturday took the fight into enemy camp, as he gave nod for a vigilance probe against his biggest political adversary.
Vijayan okayed investigations against Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala in an yesteryear case from 2015-16 that had created a huge furore.
Known as the bar scam of 2015, it had jolted the Congress’ regime under Oommen Chandy creating huge political noise in Kerala when a bar owner Biju Ramesh alleged that huge sums of money was paid to then Finance Minister K.M.Mani, which eventually led to his resignation following an adverse high court remark.
The same case has resurfaced again, after Biju Ramesh, last month revealed that money was paid to then State Congress party president Chennithala, State Minister’s K.Babu (Excise) and V.S. Sivakumar (Health) — all Congress leaders.
What appears even more surprising is Biju Ramesh has also pointed out that at the height of the case then, son of K.M. Mani — Jose K. Mani — had offered him Rs 10 crore, if he withdrew his allegations.
The reason why there has been no probe into this revelation is because Jose K. Mani, last month left the Congress led-UDF and was given a rousing welcome into the Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front.