Kerala: Remarks against former finance minister KM Mani; CPM blames the media

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the government counsel making a statement in the Supreme Court that former finance minister KM Mani was ‘corrupt’ while arguing in the assembly ruckus case, an embarrassed CPM has blamed it squarely on the media alleging that ‘a section of anti-Left media manufactured the news with political motives’.
LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan said that not even the name of KM Mani was mentioned in the Supreme Court in this regard. “Media misinterpreted the facts that came up in court. There is an ill-motive in it. KC(M) is one of the main coalition partners of the LDF and coalition partners are functioning with mutual respect. A section of the media is trying to create confusion. In that respect, this is a created news,” he said on Tuesday.
Vijayaraghavan said the protest in the assembly was against UDF’s corruption. He added that vigilance had found that Mani was ‘clean’ in the bar bribery case. “KM Mani had a long political career in state and was an experienced public activist. Vigilance had found that Mani had no personal responsibility in the bar bribery case,” he said, adding that KC (M) was part of UDF but had joined the LDF after disowning the former after finding it a corrupt front.
The government’s counsel in the Supreme Court had justified the ruckus made by the then opposition (LDF) as a protest against a ‘corrupt politician’ referring to K M Mani. KC (M) – which was then an ally of UDF and currently with LDF –had taken exception to the counsel’s remarks. It had demanded withdrawal of the reference against KM Mani in court. UDF leaders demanded that Jose K Mani should explain his justification for continuing in the LDF.