KK Mani may have presented 12 budgets too many: economists

Octogenarian KM Mani, the Kerala Finance Minister with a record 12 State budgets under his belt, has never had it so bad in his more than 50 years of public life.

An astute politician representing a major partner of the ruling coalition in the State, he finds himself fighting a debilitating bribery charge late in his much-storied career.

He is alleged to have demanded and received ₹1 crore for favours sought by a bar hotelier, representing a business hit hard by a Government decision to adopt prohibition in phases and close down bars. Mani is in denial, but the State Vigilance is inquiring into the corruption charge and has already recorded the statement of the bar hotelier.

Political observers ponder if Mani is ‘above the bar’ in the matter which his detractors in the fractious coalition have had a field day escalating many levels.

But public finance experts feel this as an inflexion point in Mani’s career that prompts a review if he has performed ‘above par’ as Finance Minister, as his record would suggest otherwise.

The experts feel the 12 Budgets are a statement, if anything, on the bargaining power of the Kerala Congress (M) to demand and keep to itself Finance and other portfolios of its choice.

Mani must take a larger share of the blame for the fiscal mess that Kerala presents today, said Pulapre Balakrishnan, economist and professor, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

If it is not acts of commission, Mani, as Finance Minister, is at fault for not having provided correctives when needed, Balakrishnan told BusinessLine here.

Secondly he, along with the rest of the political class, has failed to provide any intellectual leadership to deal with an evolving fiscal situation that is now nearing a tipping point. “It is a subset of having provided no political leadership at all. Come on, you have to show some way for the future,” Balakrishnan said.

“I’m deeply worried for the State. Not just me but my entire tribe that includes academics, thinkers, writers and the intelligentsia,” he added.

Mani has had it quite easy with no fingers pointing at him, said Balakrishnan, adding that this reflects lack of forceful political discourse on what ails the economy and ways to nurse it back to health.

Left and Right coalitions which rule the State by turns don’t seem to have a clue on what to do with the economy, much less the time or disposition to mend it, he said.

So much so, the Reserve Bank now brackets Kerala along with two others as the most debt-stressed States, a damning indictment of the fiscal policies followed by both.

Mani’s role as a Finance Minister and leader of the Kerala Congress (M) becomes relevant here for other reasons as well, another commentator said, preferring anonymity.

Mani’s ministerial assignment began in December 1975, when he took charge of Finance under C Achutha Menon and went on to present his first budget soon after.

Apart from Finance, the Kerala Congress (M) has, down the years, successfully managed to keep other major portfolios with direct resource-raising potential. These include Law, Registration, Revenue, Irrigation and Housing — not excluding Home — which merely goes to highlight the bargaining power this coalition partner commanded.

The commentator agreed with Balakrishnan saying that neither the party nor its leader measured up to the task of administering these crucial departments with ingenuity and innovation, when needed most.

As FM many times over, Mani should have intervened periodically to make mid-course corrections to guide the economy out of a growing fiscal morass, he added.