The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] appeared to have found an unlikely and somewhat hesitant ally in its “who will blink first” standoff with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the Central agency’s politically touchy and high-profile investigations into the suspected money laundering allegations revolving around the party-controlled Karuvannur Cooperative Bank in Thrissur.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty, MLA, told journalists in Kannur that the sweeping Central investigations into the cooperative sector could disrupt the low-interest credit institutions vital to Kerala’s working-class economy.
The IUML line appeared to echo that of the CPI(M) and seemed starkly divergent from Congress’s tack. Mr. Kunhalikutty, rather cautiously and mindful of Congress’s strident stance in the matter, hurriedly put a subtle rider to the IUML’s stance.
He said IUML could not condone instances of corruption in the cooperative sector that cost depositors and members their life savings. However, the intrusive and crippling Central probes cast the entire sector under a cloud of suspicion, he said.
Instead, it batted for an institutionalised State-controlled mechanism to pre-empt cooperative sector corruption. Congress was yet to react to Mr. Kunhalikutty’s statement. Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan had earlier said the “gale force controversy” surrounding the Karuvannur cooperative bank scam had buffeted the “CPI(M)‘s big trees”.
Politically, it seemed clear to Congress that the CPI(M) was striving to find an ideological partner in the IUML in the Left’s fight against the Sangh Parivar.
Congress was also mindful that IUML had persuaded the UDF to extend qualified support to the CPI(M) in the Assembly to pass the University Amendment Bill. IUML had also found common cause with the CPI(M) over opposition to the Centre’s purported move to draft a Uniform Civil Code.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seized on Mr. Kunhalikutty’s statement to reiterate its argument that the CPI(M) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) were on the same page when it came to corruption. BJP State president K. Surendran said the ruling front and Opposition had banded against the ED to conceal their respective financial shenanigans.
He cast the BJP as the true Opposition in Kerala and only credible bulwark against organised LDF-UDF corruption.
