Bar bribery scam claims another member of Chandy’s Cabinet

The Kerala ‘bar bribery scam’ has claimed its second ministerial head with Excise and Fisheries Minister K Babu, who ran the Excise Department that administers licensing of bars, quitting the Cabinet following adverse court comments.

Babu, a Congress minister, was accused, by a leader of the bar owners association, of taking a ₹50 lakh bribe from the association on the promise of relaxing the norms for issuing bar licences. Last month, the powerful KM Mani, leader of the Kerala Congress (Mani), who held the Finance portfolio in the Oommen Chandy government, had to quit under similar circumstances.

Babu, who had all along denied the accusation, announced his resignation as Minister ‘on moral grounds’ on Saturday night, but Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has not yet relieved him of his responsibilities.

While the resignation is definitely a setback for the ruling UDF and the Oommen Chandy government which have not yet recovered from their sacrificing of the powerful Kerala Congress (Mani) leader at the altar of the bar bribery scandal, it also highlights the power of the liquor tycoons who used to control political parties in the State.

The Vigilance court at Thrissur had on Wednesday ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to immediately register a first information report (FIR) in the bar bribery case and submit the report to the court in a month. The investigation would be monitored by the court itself. It also ordered the VACB to further investigate Babu. The order as well as certain scorching comments made by the court had obviously made it hard for Babu to continue in office, particularly in view of the upcoming Assembly election.

Also, the Congress’ coalition partner in the UDF, the Kerala Congress (Mani), had been cribbing about the UDF ‘sacrificing’ KM Mani, who had reluctantly resigned from the Cabinet in November last. Mani, who had been accused of receiving Rs. 1 crore from the bar owners’ association, had dithered for several months since the bar scandal broke out despite the UDF’s indirect pressures to resign.

While both Mani and Babu had been accused of taking bribes in the bar bribery scam, the KC (M) had been complaining, the UDF had asked only Mani to leave the Cabinet. It was against this backdrop that the Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge SS Vasan ordered the VACB to register an FIR and investigate Babu. Had Babu not opted to resign, it would have further worsened the Congress’s relationship with the Kerala Congress (Mani), which had once even toyed with the idea of ditching the UDF and cross the fence over to the CPI (M)-led LDF camp.

The two high-level resignations and the political fallouts so far prove the extreme sensitivity of the Chandy government’s liquor policy announced in 2013 and upheld by the Supreme Court last month.