Competitive politics indulged in by senior leaders of the Congress in Kerala, the democratic equivalent of sibling rivalry in powerful medieval dynasties, is not always harmful for the party. Occasionally, it can be rewarding.

Take the budget session of the Assembly that is underway in Kerala. One particular episode of one-upmanship in the Congress during this session, instead of making the Congress a laughing stock, spelled serious trouble for the CPM.

There was a belief that a resurgent Ramesh Chennithala had set the tone by his damning charges of corruption in the government decision to allow a controversial private company, Oasis Commercial Pvt Ltd, to start a brewery and ethanol plant in the water-scarce Elappully panchayat in Palakkad.

It looked as if the LDF government, particularly Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was cornered even before the session began. The spotlight was on Chennithala and Opposition leader V D Satheesan was pushed to the shadows. Chennithala formally raised the charges inside the Assembly on January 22, during the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address.

Satheesan played second fiddle till his time came to speak in the House on January 23. It is the Opposition leader's turn to talk before the Chief Minister made his reply in the House -- the CM's is the final speech in the three-day discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address.

In his speech, Satheesan sprang a surprise. He brought up a fresh charge related to the purchase of PPE kits during COVID, more incriminatory than what was revealed in the CAG report tabled two days earlier on January 21.

The Chief Minister came prepared to take on Chennithala -- he armed himself with Kerala's excise policy and the history of Kerala's industrial investments to make him seem above reproach, at least technically -- but found himself woefully exposed to Satheesan's fusillade.

Chennithala had nothing more to add than the charges that he had already levelled outside the House but Satheesan was smarter. He anticipated the CM's answer and came up with a fresh allegation that the CM's prepared reply was not equipped to handle.

The CAG charge was that during the term of the first Pinarayi ministry, the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL) had purchased PPE kits for Rs 1550 when another company, Anitha Texcot, had already informed the KMSCL that it was willing to supply PPE kits at Rs 550 per unit. The CAG also asked why only 10,000 kits were purchased from Anitha Texcot when the original order was for 25,000.

Instead of bothering with facts, the CM gave an emotional response laced with administrative rhetoric. "It was a desperate situation. There was a shortage of essential medicines, and without safety kits, health workers outside Kerala were falling dead," the CM said.

"Things were so uncertain that no one knew when the pandemic would end. Do you mean to say that in such an emergency we should have adhered to the guidelines of the Store Purchase Manual, opened technical bids, then forwarded these bids for the approval of the technical committee, then opened the financial bid, assessed the financial feasibility, and after both were approved floated an open tender, negotiated with supplier companies, arrived at an optimum price, then forwarded the deal to the law department for further vetting and only then, after all this elaborate process, signed the purchase deal," he said.

He said the deal with Anitha Texcot was cancelled because it failed to supply the promised number of kits even after 19 days of placing the order. The implication was that a government dealing with an emergency could afford excessive pricing but not supply delays.

But Satheesan’s charge was specifically meant to undermine the CM’s argument of pandemic compulsion. He had produced KMSCL documents to show that on March 28, 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Anitha Texcot had informed the KMSCL that it could supply 25,000 PPE kits at Rs 550 a piece.

That very day, at 5.55pm, Satheesan said, the KMSCL had noted in the file that Anitha Texcot was unwilling to bring down the price during negotiations and so it was purchasing only 10,000 kits from then. (The CM, reading from his prepared text, would later say that this decision to cut down the supplies from Anitha was taken only 19 days later when it defaulted on supply.)

Another development of the day (March 28, 2020) further mocked at the CM’s reply. Two hours after noting on the file that Anitha was adamant about the price, the KMSCL mailed to another company, San Pharma, agreeing to its proposal to supply 15,000 PPE kits at Rs 1550, Rs 1000 more than what Anitha offered.

What's more, the company was also given 100% advance when rules stipulate that only 50% should be given as advance. "Is there a bigger corruption deal than this," Satheesan said, waving the KMSCL documents.

Realising that the CM was unprepared to deal with his allegations, the Opposition leader interrupted the CM's speech and insisted on an answer. "The Anitha deal was cancelled not because they failed to supply as you seemed to suggest. There is major corruption involved," he once again reminded the CM.

This was checkmate and the CM opted for the usual escape route rulers take when cornered. "The Opposition leader has raised a separate issue. We will look into it," he said, and went ahead with his speech.

Pinarayi might have wriggled out of Chennithala's grip but found himself hopelessly trapped in the pit Satheesan dug for him. In the end, Congress emerged the winner.