82-year-old KM Mani to present his 13th budget on Friday the 13th, faces opposition from LDF

KOCHI: Rarely do Finance Ministers get a chance to present more than a dozen budgets in their career.
But the 82-year-old KM Mani will present his 13th budget on Friday, March 13.

As he gives finishing touches to his budget, KM Mani might be wondering whether number 13 is going to be his undoing.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has announced a blockade of the secretariat on the budget day to pre vent Mani from presenting the budget.

LDF has announced that Mani, who had allegedly accepted a bribe from a bar hotel owner, would not be allowed to present the budget.

Meanwhile, KM Mani on Wednesday filed a defamation case against Biju Ramesh, the bar hotel owner who alleged that the Finance Minister accepted a bribe.

Mani has sought Rs 10 crore as com .pensation. The case was filed in Thiruvananthapuram sub court. In the run up to the budget, the charges against Mani are flying thick and fast. On Tuesday, CPM MLA Shivankutty said in the assembly that Mani stopped revenue recovery proceedings to the tune of Rs 116 crore against some trade establishments in the state.

He said that the 211 trade establishments benefited because of Mani's actions.

He also charged that Mani offered Rs 10 crore to Biju Ramesh to settle the bar-bribe case.

Denying the charges KM Mani said that the Shivankutty charges are baseless and politically motivated.