By Ashraf Padanna/Gulf Times Correspondent/Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala’s ruling Congress-led coalition suffered a massive blow in the run-up to next week’s civic elections with an anti-corruption court ordering a fresh probe into allegations against Finance Minister K M Mani in the bar scam.
Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge John K Ellikkadan rejected the final investigation report of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) exonerating Mani from bribery charges.
The court ordered further investigation by the same officer who faced political wrath for saying there was proof that Mani took a bribe from hoteliers for renewing licences to serve liquor, a promise he failed to keep.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other top leaders of the ruling United Democratic Front, in which Mani’s Kerala Congress faction is a junior partner, put up a brave face and maintained it was “common procedure” in such cases.
VACB director Vinson M Paul issued a statement that stuck to its position that there was no evidence to prove bribery charges, and offered to quit bowing to the “public perception” that the agency failed to nail the culprits.
The VACB registered a case against the 82-year-old minister last year after Biju Ramesh, a controversial hotelier who lost bar licences of nearly a dozen outlets in the state capital, said Mani had demanded Rs100mn.
The “working president” of the Kerala Bar Owners Association, accused the minister of accepting half the money at his office and home ahead of parliamentary elections when 418 bars were closed for poor standards.
The allegations came at a time when Mani was in talks with the opposition to topple Chandy and form an alternative government with him at the helm with their support.
The most senior member of the Chandy cabinet was the lone speaker from the rival camp at the 2013 brainstorming session of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Palakkad.
Soon after the allegations surfaced, the opposition launched a series of protests both in the assembly and outside demanding Mani’s resignation.
The opposition’s attempt to force his resignation also culminated in violence in the assembly when Mani presented the annual budget in February. The protests fizzled out after that.
Besides the minister and the complainant, the probe team had reportedly taken statements of more than 300 people, including the hotelier’s accountant and his driver, who also underwent a polygraph test, before filing a closure report.
The VACB officials also collected pieces of evidence like details of the bank transactions and telephone calls but failed to establish the money went to the minister.
Mani welcomed the verdict saying he was ready to face further inquiry to prove his innocence “a hundred and one times”.
“In no way am I going to step down because there have been precedents of even chief minister and ministers remaining in office. So, we will wait for the final report,” said Mani.
Chandy said: “There is no need for Mani to resign. It is a usual legal process; it is not a final verdict. There is nothing unnatural about it.”
However, CPM veteran V S Achuthanandan and his deputy Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also the secretary of the party in the state, said Mani should not remain in power “even for a day.”
The issue is likely to become an important campaign plank for them in the November 2 and 5 local polls and legislative elections six months away.
Meanwhile Chandy said a never before seen unity in the UDF and the whole-hearted support of the people will help “us sail through the local body polls with ease.”
“When this government assumed office with a majority of just two seats, many people reluctantly gave us a maximum of just six months, but in a few months from now, our five-year term is coming to a close. This is not because of our merits, but the unprecedented unity that the UDF put up, coupled with the complete support of the people of Kerala,” the chief minister said.
“The Left has not won an election since 2006 and hence we will have a comprehensive victory at the local body election,” he said.
Kerala is one of very few states in the country where candidates contest the local body polls on party symbols.