Kartha's diary spares no one. And Shone George just learned it the hard way

BJP vice president Shone George came to the BJP headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday with a page taken out from what he claims to be CMRL founder Sasidharan Kartha's diary to throw muck on Chief Minister V D Satheesan, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

But like an unsuspecting character in a B-grade slapstick movie, former Union Minister and senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan walked in at that precise moment and got the entire dirt meant for Satheesan, Chennithala and Pinarayi on him.

The page Shone held up had 20-odd names of top politicians. "These are the names found in a diary confiscated by the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office). The Chief Minister is there. Pinarayi Vijayan is also present, not P V (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the initials found in the SFIO report and which Pinarayi had fiercely denied was him)," Shone said.

He pointed to Chennithala's name and said: "The home minister who now stands accused has decided not to register an FIR in the CMRL case," Shone said. "All of these accused have come together to sabotage a Vigilance enquiry," he said. At this point, V Muraleedharan walked into the hall. He was to hold the next press conference at Mararji Bhavan, the BJP HQ.

After making a respectful nod to acknowledge his senior's presence at the dais, Shone resumed. But before he could go further, he was reminded of V Muraleedharan's name in Kartha's diary. The BJP vice president was caught off guard.

"There are no BJP leaders in any of the documents that I had accessed," Shone said. "Moreover, we were not in power for our leaders to do the company any favour. All that we have are three MLAs and an MP, and they came to these posts only in the last three years," he said.

Shone either forgot or conveniently removed from the list of the 'BJP Powerful' V Muraleedharan who was Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs of India from 2019 to 2024.

When Shone was repeatedly told Muraleedharan's name was in the diary, he responded as if the journalists were gripped by a serious misunderstanding. "That is K Muraleedharan, not V Muraleedharan," he said.

He was right. The page that he displayed had only one Muraleedharan and his initial was K. But journalists were referring to another page from Kartha's 39-page diary in which, in Kartha's own writing, it is entered that "Mr Muraleedharan BJP" had received Rs 3 lakh. A journalist went up to Muraleedharan and showed him the page with his name.

Shone seemed to pretend disbelief. "The other day he (Muraleedharan) himself had sought an investigation into the CMRL issue," he said, as if that was proof of the former union minister's innocence. Shone quickly swerved the discourse away from his senior and focused on his targets.

"Any amount over Rs 20,000 received from other sources should be revealed before the Election Commission," Shone said. "Both Chennithala and Kunhalikutty said that they had accepted the money. Have they properly documented this money in the party accounts submitted before the Election Commission? If not, it is wrong," he said.

This held true for his leader, too. If it was not taken for personal purposes, the money allegedly received by Muraleedharan should also be reflected in the BJP's accounts.

When he began his press interaction, Muraleedharan understood that he was in a tricky situation. So to give the impression that the dirt had comically fallen on the wrong person, he employed the Pinarayi trick: Absolute denial. He had also asked Shone to sit by his side.

"Do you mean to say that there is only one Muraleedharan in the BJP," he said with a smile that suggested that he was not a bit upset by the innuendo.

Aren't you the most popular Muraleedharan? "That is only a recent phenomenon," he said, and added: "Just check whether there were any other Muraleedharans in BJP. Journalists in Kochi know what my association with this CMRL company is. I was part of the agitation against them for causing pollution in areas around FACT."

Muraleedharan categorically denied that "Mr Muraleedharan BJP" was him. "Don't bracket me with people who have accepted money from this company. My political life is an open book, any one of you can verify my record," he said.

What's more, he wanted a probe conducted into all the names in the diary. "Also check who had received money in Muraleedharan's name. I have anyway not received anything. I am 100 per cent sure of it," he said.

So has Shone George put you in a spot of bother, he was asked. Shone tried to explain but was calmly silenced by Muraleedharan. "If you think that I will be cornered if Shone tries to trap me, it only means that you don't know me," he said, the nonchalant laughter intact.

It looked like Shone was too eager to make up for the embarrassment he had caused. "It was our dear leader Muraleedharanji who backed me the most when I went ahead with the CMRL case," he said. Muraleedharan just smiled. "Let the government probe who this Muraleedharan is. I myself am saying this. That's why I asked Shone to sit with me," he said.