NCP-SP clears its Kerala legislator of cash for defection charge

Thiruvananthapuram: The Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar's Kerala unit on Tuesday gave a clean chit to its legislator Thomas K. Thomas who faced allegations that he had approached two Left-linked legislators to defect to the NCP headed by Ajit Pawar for a monetary consideration.

A four-member group of party leaders conducted the probe and cleared Thomas of the charge.

With this, it remains to be seen if the much-awaited induction of Thomas into the Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet replacing his senior party colleague and State Forest Minister A.K.Saseendran will become a reality.

Thomas’s name was cleared for a Cabinet berth at a meeting chaired by his party President Sharad Pawar and attended by Thomas, Saseendran and state party President P.C. Chacko in September.

As part of the arrangement, the trio met CM Vijayan and presented Pawar’s letter giving the nod for Thomas to replace Saseendran.

But Thomas’ Cabinet entry was put on hold by CM Vijayan after this allegation surfaced against him. Former State Transport Minister Antony Raju claimed that he, along with another Left independent legislator Kovoor Kunjumon, was offered Rs 50 crore each to defect to the party of Ajit Pawar.

While Kunjumon was quick to deny that such a thing had ever happened, Raju stood his ground. Thomas then challenged him to undergo a lie-detection test and claimed Raju’s allegation was part of a larger conspiracy to tarnish his image ahead of an imminent Cabinet expansion and minimise his chances of getting a berth.

Now all eyes are on Vijayan as Thomas' party has cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Asked about this fresh development, Saseendran evaded a direct answer, saying: "That’s for the party to decide."

Thomas is the younger brother of Thomas Chandy, a businessman-turned-three-time NCP legislator who passed away in 2020 and the Kuttanad Assembly constituency that he represented was given by the party to Thomas, who won the 2021 Assembly polls.

According to Thomas, there was an agreement that Saseendran would move out for Thomas after two and a half years, similar to the agreement among the Left Democratic Front’s four other allies which have one legislator each and it was effected in December last year, but Thomas failed to get the berth.