Thiruvannathapuram:
Kerala CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan can breathe easy. The state Advocate General has advised against granting permission to prosecute him in the multi-crore SNC-Lavalin corruption case.
But while the CPM state and central leadership has backed the advocate general's view, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan isn't happy. He always wanted the party and Vijayan to fight the case legally and politically.
"We will fight it politically and legally. The CPM leader should use the opportunity, whenever it comes in the court, to come clean on the issue. The charges cannot be fought by fighting against the judges," he had said earlier.
Achuthanandan's stand is at variance with the party that says since the Lavalin case is politically motivated. The Opposition has rubbished the AG's decision.
"The Advocate General has done it in a hurry to save people politically. He has taken an anticipatory bail saying that he has not gone through the entire files. This is to save himself in future," Opposition leader Oommen Chandy said.
It is now almost certain that the Kerala Cabinet scheduled to meet on Wednesday is going to endorse the AG's stand on SNC Lavalin. So the big question is -- will the Chief Minister toe the party line or give a dissent note?
Wednesday's Cabinet meeting could pit the chief minister against his own ministers.
"If there is position in which the CM is on one side and his entire Cabinet colleagues on the other side, and if he persists on what he thinks right then the only course for chief minister is to resign and go out of the Cabinet," said Dr J Prabhash, a political analyst.
The CPM put the Lavalin case off till the voting. Now with that part of the elections over, the case has come back to haunt the Reds.