Son in jail could cause hiccups for Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram, July 17 With the CPI-M party organisational meetings all set to gather steam in Kerala, the fate of its top leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, presently on 'leave' from the post of state party secretary, aiming to return to the post, doesn't look that bright, as his younger son continues to cool his heels in a jail in Bengaluru.

Balakrishnan popularly known as Kodiyeri had to step down soon after his younger son Bineesh Kodiyerii was picked up by the Bengaluru division of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and his arrest was recorded on October 29 last year.

Kodiyeri was given an honourable exit by the party in November last year as he was under treatment for cancer and with the local bodies and the assembly polls round the corner, the party felt that it's best that Kodiyeri be asked to step down on the grounds of health and senior party leader and Left Democratic Front convenor A. Vijayaraghavan was named as acting secretary and continues in the post.

The fact of the matter is, though Kodiyeri has been given leave, he is present at the state party headquarters and is party to all decisions that are made.

Meanwhile, the bail application of Bineesh in the Karnataka High Court, which by now has come up for almost a dozen times, states that he be given interim bail as his father is unwell and it's his responsibility to be with his ailing father.

But so far his application has not found success and for the past few days the arguments are going on with the ED counsel strongly opposing his bail.

A media critic on condition of anonymity said the only saving grace for Kodiyeri is that there are no charges against him registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), who first picked up and arrested Bineesh's close aide Anoop Mohammed, following which Bineesh was questioned and later arrested by the ED.

"It's a known fact that with the party's organisational meetings all set to gather steam and the State Party Conference likely to be held after the grassroots party meetings and district meetings are over, the ruling CPI-M especially chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan wishes to get back Kodiyeri as the secretary. With him at the helm of affairs, they want to hold the Conference and he can be given one more three-year term. But if this case lingers on, it could well be a problem for Vijayan, as the Congress and the BJP opposition might make political capital out of it," said the critic.

Balakrishnan has gone on record stating that his son is jailed due to political vendetta as in cases registered under PMLA, bail is generally given, but in his son's case it has not happened.

Incidentally in the political circles, the speculation was rife that this time he might get bail because the Kerala unit of the BJP is caught in an allegation of having received a huge sum of money through hawala and was used for the April 6 assembly polls.

It was the other day the Kerala Police probing the hawala case gave a clean chit to the State BJP unit, even after its president K. Surendran was called for questioning.

The Congress party has been speculating that there could be a possible trade off between the case of Bineesh and the leaders presently entangled in the hawala transfer of money.