It is now up to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to decide when Transport Minister Thomas Chandy should put in his papers.
The NCP, whose lone nominee Mr. Chandy is in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Cabinet, wants to wait till the Kerala High Court hands down its decision on the petition filed by Mr. Chandy against the report of the Alappuzha District Collector on the alleged violation of various land-related laws by the resort owned by him, but the State committee of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) would have none of it.
The committee, which discussed the crisis arising from the allegations at length here on Sunday, left it to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take a decision in the matter, but the tone and tenor of the discussions were weighted heavily against Mr. Chandy’s continuation in the Cabinet.
The committee did not take a decision on the subject heeding the Chief Minister’s request that it should be left to NCP to take the decision.
Leaders do a situation analysis
Leaders of the CPI(M) and CPI did a situation analysis before the LDF State committee met in the afternoon. At this meeting, the CPI leaders impressed upon their CPI(M) counterparts that the LDF would have to pay a heavy price if Mr. Chandy were to continue in the Cabinet as the Alappuzha Collector had found that Mr. Chandy’s resort had violated provisions of the Land Conservancy Act, the Land Assignment Rules, and the Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, all of which were cognizable offences calling for registration of cases against the Minister.
At the LDF panel meeting later, NCP State president T.P. Peethambaran wanted his party to be given time till the High Court gave its decision on the petition filed by Mr. Chandy seeking quashing of the Collector’s report. This drew a sharp response from CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran, who reminded him and the rest of the committee that an adverse remark from the court would prove costly for not just Mr. Chandy, but also to the entire government. That was when the Chief Minister intervened and suggested that the NCP be allowed to take a decision taking all these factors into consideration.
The NCP State committee is meeting here on Tuesday and that could prove a crucial day for Mr. Chandy.