Senior UDF leader R Balakrishna Pillai, whose audio clip of conversation with bar hotel owners "exposed" Finance Minister K M Mani, on Tuesday threatened that he would reveal more against the government if the Congress dared to sack him from the coalition. Pillai’s Kerala Congress (B) is a minor ally of the Congress- led United Democratic Front. Following the damning revelation that Pillai extended full support to the bar hotel owners to stick on to the corruption charges against Mani, Kerala Congress (M) has demanded that Pillai should be removed from the UDF. Pillai’s KC (B) has only his son K B Ganesh Kumar as party representative in the legislative assembly. After Kumar quit as forest minister, Pillai was made the chairman of a newly formed welfare corporation for the forward communities. "If my party is thrown out of the UDF, I would expose more corrupt practices in the government. I would be happy only to be booted out on account of fighting against corruption," said Pillai, who had been convicted in a corruption case three years back. Pillai has not only antagonized Mani’s Kerala Congress (M), also the Indian Union Muslim League. Last month, Kumar had raised serious corruption charges against the office of the public works minister, who is a Muslim League nominee. Subsequently, the League had demanded that action should be taken against Pillai. Reacting to the demand that Pillai should be removed from the UDF, its convener P P Thankachan said the co-ordination committee of the UDF would meet on January 28 to discuss the issue. "Only Kerala Congress (M) has raised such a demand," he said. Although Pillai’s party is a negligible ally of the UDF, he is a powerful leader from the upper class Hindu Nair community. Chandy would not dare to hurt the Nair sentiments by cracking the whip on Pillai, who is a member in the director board of the Nair Service Society. Meanwhile, bar hotel owner Biju Ramesh said he would submit fresh evidence against Mani before the Vigilance on Wednesday. "I have clear evidence to substantiate that Mani had accepted bribe from bar hotel owners," said Ramesh. Giving another twist to the raging controversy, Bindya Thomas, a woman accused the sensational sex blackmail case, visited Ramesh in the evening. Ramesh said government chief whip P C George had sent the lady to trap him. Thomas told the media that she met Ramesh to discuss about politics. But, Ramesh he refused to meet her as he realized that she was an accused in the blackmail case. In a TV channel discussion on the expose against Mani, George had showered abuse on Ramesh.
