Kerala’s CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF on Monday took its agitation demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the solar power scam to the streets even as Speaker G Karthikeyan was accused of being a pawn in the hands of Chandy for reducing the Assembly’s monsoon session by 14 days just when the Government was struggling to counter charges against Chandy.
Inaugurating an lDF march to the Assembly in Thiruvananthapuram to press for Chandy’s resignation and a judicial probe into the allegation on the role of the Chief Minister’s office in the solar power scam, State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said the agitation would now spread to the entire State.
The Assembly on Monday witnessed unruly scenes over the allegations against Chandy for the eighth consecutive day with the Opposition raising noisy protests against the Speaker’s refusal to allow an adjournment motion on the scam in which people in the Chief Minister’s office had allegedly provided help to the perpetrators.
At one point, the Speaker suspended the proceedings for two hours after the House fell into total chaos following Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan’s effort to bring up some issue related to the Chief Minister’s family. Objecting strongly to Achuthanandan’s move, the Speaker turned his microphone off, inviting sharp protests from the Opposition.
When the House reassembled two hours later, the Speaker announced the shortening of the session by 14 days on the basis of a resolution moved by Chandy. The session would now resume on July 8. Alleging that the Speaker was acting as a willing weapon of the Government, the lDF members staged a sit-in at the entrance of the Assembly building.
“The Speaker turned my microphone off even before he had any idea of what I was going to say,” the Opposition leader told newsmen outside the Assembly. “In this way, the Speaker had acted as a servant of the Chief Minister,” he said while other Opposition members alleged that the reduction of the session duration was part of a conspiracy of the Government.
Achuthanandan said that Speaker Karthikeyan had turned his microphone off when he was going to refer to a mention in the petition Chandy’s former son-in-law had filed in a family court about Salim Raj, who was recently removed as the Chief Minister’s gunman over the solar power scam.
The Chief Minister had on June 14 removed gunman Salim Raj and personal Assistant Terry Joppen from his personal staff after it was established that they had been in regular telephonic contact with con woman Saritha S Nair, who along with her ex-husband Biju Radhakrishnan had cheated several people by collecting crores of rupees in the name of a bogus solar power firm.
Despite the serious allegations against them, Chandy has not so far suspended them from service. Instead, he had praised Salim Raj as a trustworthy aide when it was pointed out that the Vigilance had advised against making him his gunman as he had been facing several serious charges.
“Chandy’s former son-in-law had in his petition said that Salim Raj was an immoral person and that he should be expelled from Chandy’s house. Why should Chandy keep such a person with himIJ It is mysterious,” said Achuthanandan. Chandy himself had admitted that he had met Biju Radhakrishnan, who had also been accused of murdering his former wife.
Saritha Nair, who had allegedly developed links with several Government departments using her feminine charms and bribes, was arrested for fraud on June 3 while Biju, said to be her ex-husband, was held last week over the charge of murdering his former wife Rasmi in 2006. The lDF, which was then in power, is now accused of failing to book him for this crime.