What the opposition fondly interpreted as a sign of impending challenge to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s leadership of the government and the ruling party nipped in the bud when finance minister Thomas Isaac, who appeared to lead such a challenge, gave in without a fight. The minister, who had questioned the mental balance of those who ordered raids at 36 branches of Kerala State Financial Enterprises to unearth irregularities, had created a flutter in political circles as the Vigilance department responsible for such anticorruption operations is part of the home ministry, which is under the chief minister.

Opposition leaders saw in Isaac’s defiance the sign of a growing disenchantment against Pinarayi Vijayan, whose office has come under a cloud in the investigations into the gold smuggling and housing scandal. CM’s erstwhile principal secretary M Sivasankar is now in the custody of central investigating agencies as an accused in the twin scams, while his additional private secretary C M Raveendran is set to be questioned any time now. The alleged involvement of the two key officials is believed to lead the investigations to the chief minister himself. Political circles felt that the shadow of investigations would considerably weaken the position of Vijayan, who is known to brook no dissent. However, in a clearly articulated rebuttal, the chief minister had on Monday rejected Thomas Isaac’s objections and asserted that the Vigilance raids were part of the standard operating procedure of the agency, dismissing the suggestions that the action may have been initiated at the behest of private players, who had a stake in the failure of KSFE.

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