The Kerala BJP on Wednesday accused the State CPI(M) and its secretary Pinarayi Vijayan of ending the leftist siege to the State Secretariat demanding Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s resignation over the infamous solar scam by surrendering to the blackmailing tactic adopted by the Congress-led UDF Government and Chandy.
The Government had made Pinarayi call off the siege by using the evidence collected by the police on his involvement in the conspiracy behind the murder of rebel Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan, State BJP general secretary K Surendran said in Kozhikode. Pinarayi, however, rejected the allegation. The CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF had on Tuesday called off the siege of the Secretariat it had started on Monday immediately after Chandy announced a judicial probe into the solar scam in which he and his office were allegedly involved. The suspension of the siege, in which tens of thousands of left activists had taken part, had surprised entire Kerala with its abruptness.
“Pinarayi has thus betrayed tens of thousands of comrades,” said Surendran, who alleged that it was a series of negotiations, which were held under the mediation of UAE-based businessman MA Yusuffali and in which several leaders belonging to both the UDF and lDF took part, that had led to the suspension of the stir which was not to end till Chandy resigned as per the plan. Surendran’s charge against Pinarayi has intensified the murmurs of protests within the lDF against the suspension of the stir within 28 hours of its start. lDF constituents like the CPI and RSP now hold that the siege should not have been called off at the announcement by Chandy of a judicial probe. These parties are likely to bring up this issue at the lDF meet on August 19.
According to Surendran, the police were in possession of clinching evidence on Pinarayi’s role in the conspiracy behind the murder of Chandrasekharan for which a minimum of 24 CPI(M) leaders and workers had been arrested. The evidence was in the form of details of a telephone conversation between Pinarayi and a district CPI(M) chief the night before the murder, he said, adding that CPI(M) Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, CITU leader Elamaram Kareem, Ministers PK Kunhalikutty and Shibu Baby John and CPI leader KE Ismail also had participated in the negotiations.
Surendran, who had made several startling ‘disclosures’ on the alleged involvement of Chandy and his family in the scam pushing the UDF Government into defensive, said that Pinarayi had, by suspending the siege, strangulated a movement of the people against the huge corruption of the Congress and its leaders. Chandy had announced that a sitting judge from the High Court would probe the solar scam but the BJP leader said this was not going to happen. Some retired judge would do some probe and the entire case would go into the dustbin after that, he said. “Chandy says the judicial probe will not cover him or his office. Then why should there be a judicial probe at allIJ” he asked.
Rejecting the charges leveled by Surendran, Pinarayi said in Thiruvananthapuram, “let nobody harbour any hope to diminish the glory of the Secretariat siege. Efforts are being made to connect the Chandrasekharan murder and the suspension of the stir,” he said adding that the left would reject the offer of judicial probe if the CM and his office did not come under its purview.