No action against Pillai

Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF liaison committee meeting Wednesday has decided not to take any action against Kerala Congress (B) chairman R.Balakrishna Pillai in the wake of the new controversy over the bar bribery case.

“Balakrishna Pillai’s stand in the issue was wrong. The ruling coalition found Pillai’s remarks unacceptable since it was made against the leader of another partner violating all political decency,” said UDF convenor P.P Thankachan on Wednesday.

“He should not have been in touch with Mr. Ramesh in the first place,” he said.

He said the UDF hoped that Pillai would refrain from making such wild allegations in view of the general sentiments expressed by leaders of various parties at the UDF meeting.

The UDF meet was convened against the backdrop of the surfacing of audio clips, touted as evidence in the bar bribe case.

An audio conversation between R.Balakrishna Pillai and Biju Ramesh had come out in the open last week.

In it, Pillai was heard asking Ramesh to go ahead by filing a case in the Kerala High Court seeking a CBI probe into the bar graft allegation Ramesh levelled in October against State Finance Minister K.M Mani.

Despite the Opposition demand for Mani’s resignation in the wake of the controversy, the Finance Minister categorically had stated Tuesday that he was neither perturbed by the malicious campaign going on for some time nor the threats of the Opposition parties that he would not be allowed to present the budget.