Thiruvananthapuram: Amid speculation about the reasons behind Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's refusal to include NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader and Kuttanad MLA Thomas K Thomas in the state cabinet, it has emerged that the denial stemmed from allegations that Thomas offered two LDF legislators Rs 50 crore each for switching allegiance.
The Chief Minister has formally reported this serious accusation to the CPM State Secretariat. Thomas MLA, on his part, has handed over a letter to the Chief Minister, vehemently denying the allegations.
According to the information received by the CM, Thomas allegedly offered Rs 50 crore each to Antony Raju of Janathipathya Kerala Congress and Kovoor Kunjumon of the RSP-Leninist, who are the sole representatives of their parties in the assembly. The offer was intended to persuade them to join the NCP faction led by Ajith Pawar, an ally of the BJP.
When Pinarayi Vijayan inquired further, Antony Raju confirmed receiving the offer, while Kovoor Kunjumon claimed that he could not recall any such incident.
"The Chief Minister called me in, and I shared some shocking information with him. I can't say more at this point," Antony Raju MLA stated. Kovoor Kunjumon, however, denied having any discussions with Thomas K Thomas or receiving such offers.
The CM received the information that Thomas invited both Antony Raju and Kovoor Kunjumon to the legislators' lobby during a previous assembly session to present his offer. This allegedly occurred during a time when Thomas was frustrated by the NCP’s state and national leaderships repeatedly ignoring his demand for a ministerial position by replacing forest minister AK Saseendran.
Antony Raju informed the CM that Ajith Pawar had targeted Kerala with a fund of Rs 250 crore, offering him Rs 50 crore to join the NCP faction. Raju rejected the offer, stating that he had won the election as part of the LDF and had no intention of leaving the coalition.
It is believed that this offer, though seemingly implausible in Kerala’s political context, was part of a broader strategy to attract NCP legislators in an attempt to maintain the party’s symbol and name following its split. The alleged attempt to defect to the BJP alliance outraged the Chief Minister.
In response, Pinarayi Vijayan dismissed a subsequent demand from the NCP to induct Thomas to the state cabinet by replacing AK Saseendran. While the refusal for a cabinet reshuffle left Thomas humiliated, the CM reportedly hinted at the reason behind this decision to the NCP leadership.
Thomas K Thomas, meanwhile, denied the claims in a letter to Sharad Pawar. “I have no connection with Ajith Pawar, nor have I engaged in any such discussions. Who am I to offer Rs 50 crore to anyone? This is a game orchestrated by Antony Raju for his party, Janathipathya Kerala Congress, which used to contest from the Kuttanad seat,” he explained.