Kuruvila belongs to the four-MLA Kerala Congress (Joseph) party, and was pitch forked into the Cabinet after his party chairman P J Joseph, who preceded him in office, was felled by another scandal. Joseph was alleged to have molested a woman co-passenger, a former TV anchor, on board a domestic flight.

Amid the clamour for Joseph’s prosecution, the Left Government had deftly announced a judicial probe, declaring action would depend on the probe findings. This was after a senior woman IPS officer who was ordered to probe the charge, ironically at the specific instance of Joseph himself, reported him guilty. However, there is no sign of the judicial inquiry even a year after it was announced, though the police in Chennai are said to be investigating the complaint that his Chennai-based victim made.

Kuruvila, who had invited heavy flak for his failure to do anything substantial while in office, was famously the richest minister in the Left Cabinet who made his declared crores from timber and other big business operations.

But Kuruvila getting out hasn’t yet pulled the curtain on the drama. Joseph is making no bones that he is angling for a comeback to office, though this idea has run into open opposition from the CPM. Joseph himself had declared on Sunday that the “overwhelming feeling” in his party now is that he should not refuse to take up the burden of ministership at this juncture. His party leaders have gone on record that they are exploring options to “speed up” the probe into the molestation charge by the Chennai Police, which, they claim, is sure to exonerate him.

On Monday, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the Left constituent would do well to do some “critical introspection” for themselves about the way two of its ministers had to go in succession, within a year. CPM Central Committee member and Minister for Local Administration Paloli Mohemmed Kutty, meanwhile, shot down Joseph’s ministerial aspirations. Paloli declared publicly that there was no question of letting Joseph become a minister again, unless and until he was fully cleared of the charge.

An angry Joseph took no time to slam the CPM minister, claiming he had not yet asked to be taken back into the Cabinet. He also offered to hand the public works portfolio to the CPM, if it so wished.

If Joseph can’t get into the Cabinet and the CPM doesn’t want to take up his offer either, his party would need to choose one of the only two remaining MLAs that it has for the job, Mons Joseph and V Surendran Pillai. As things stand, neither are being seriously considered.