THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Firing its first salvo against Oommen Chandy, the CPM and CPI have warned the UDF Government of dire consequences if it tried to protect the corrupt. The move of the Vigilance Director to reinvestigate the ration depot case in which minister-designate Adoor Prakash is an accused is snowballing into a controversy. ‘’If Oommen Chandy tries to protect the corrupt using the slender majority, it would not be allowed,’’ said CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurating a march organised by DYFI workers to the Vigilance Directorate. Vijayan said there was no need for a reinvestigation into the case as the Vigilance had already submitted the chargesheet. ‘’If the complainant wants to withdraw the complaint, he can do it before the court,’’ he said. In a statement issued here, CPI state secretary C K Chandrappan said that the misuse of power by Chandy to protect UDF leaders facing Vigilance inquiry would create serious problems. “The UDF Govt has interfered to sabotage cases against Adoor Prakash, P J Joseph and Mons Joseph,’’ he alleged. Chandrappan said that the permission of the court was not sought before ordering reinvestigation into the case by the Vigilance. The presence of Ministers facing various kinds of allegations in the Government is slowly turning out to be a campaign material for the Opposition. Apart from Muslim League general secretary P K Kunhalikutty, who is facing a reinvestigation in the infamous ice cream parlour sex case, Minister T M Jacob and ministers-designate P J Joseph and Adoor Prakash have been included by the CPM in its hit list. An appeal by the State Government against the High Court order acquitting T M Jacob of Kerala Congress (J) in the Kuriarkutty-Karappara irrigation project is under the consideration of the Supreme Court. The charge is that while serving as a Minister in the UDF Govt during 1991-96, Jacob colluded with contractors and awarded the contract for constructing a canal without inviting tenders. The High Court had acquitted Jacob. Recently, the Supreme Court sought all documents in this case for re-examination. Recently, the State Agriculture Department has asked P J Joseph, who will be sworn in as Kerala Congress (M) nominee on Monday, to pay back Rs 24,92,158, the amount Joseph had taken as a loan for Federation of Indian Floriculturists, which was misappropriated. A Vigilance inquiry has found Joseph a culprit along with two others. The recommendation was to recover the loan amount with 18 per cent interest. However, Joseph obtained a stay from the High Court against further proceedings. Adoor Prakash has been chargesheeted by the Vigilance following an allegation levelled by Congress leader N K Adbu Rahman that he demanded Rs 25 lakh as bribe for allotting a ration wholesale depot to the latter. However, in an interesting move to bail out the minister-designate, the complain
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