The Congress has sought to exploit the perceived dissension in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) over the move to promulgate an Ordinance to relegate the Kerala Lok Ayukta to a "trifling" advisory role in cases relating to allegations of corruption and maladministration against public servants.
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan claims that the CPI has taken strong exception to the bid to defang the ombudsman via a "rash" executive order on the eve of the budget session of the Assembly. Mr. Satheesan appears to peg his argument on CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran's purported position that the government should have ideally introduced a Bill in the House to redeem anomalies, if any, in the Lok Ayukta Act, 1999.
Mr. Satheesan alleges that the CPI(M) had conspiratorially pressed for an executive order in a Cabinet meeting last week to dilute Section 14 of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act. It has not consulted its LDF allies. He alleges that the proposed Ordinance aims at forestalling the Constitutional and political fallout of possible adverse Lok Ayukta findings against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Higher Education Minister R. Bindu.
