Options became limited for Kerala’s Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday with a ‘victim’ of the fraudsters in the solar scam ‘disclosing’ that he had given Rs40 lakh to con woman Saritha S Nair, main perpetrator of the scam, in the name of a solar power project after getting assurances directly from Chandy on her credibility and that of her business.
Sreedharan Nair, a metal crusher owner from Pathanamthitta district, told a TV channel on Monday that he had handed over the money to Saritha after meeting her, Chandy and his now-arrested personal assistant Tenny Joppen at the Chief Minister’s office on the evening of July 9, 2012.
After Nair’s disclosure, Opposition leaders said that Chandy had no option but to resign as Chief Minister as it had now been proved that he had played an active role in the scam. “Chandy has lost his moral right to continue in power. It has now been proved that he has been lying all along,” said TM Thomas Isaac MlA of the CPI(M).
The disclosure of Nair, who had filed a petition in a Pathanamthitta court in this regard, came less than 12 hours after Chandy’s statement in the State Assembly that he had met him twice but that was not in connection with solar power business or Saritha Nair. Chandy had claimed that these meetings related to some affairs concerning a crusher owners’ outfit.
“My impression is that the Chief Minister had talked to me with full confidence in Saritha Nair, then known to me as lakshmi Nair, and her solar power business. He told me there was nothing to worry as solar is the future power way. He also told me everything about the subsidies for the project I was planning to install through her firm would be taken care of,” Nair told the channel.
The industrialist said that he had mentioned all these things in the statement he had given at a court in Pathanamthitta under Section 164. “I was convinced that lakshmi Nair (Saritha) was a highly respected personality in the State Secretariat and in Ministers’ offices. It was she and Joppen who had taken me to the CM’s room on that evening,” he said.
Nair also said that top Congress leaders had approached him with the promise to pay the entire Rs 40 lakh or even more if he was ready to withdraw his petition or at least the mention of Chandy’s name in it. “I am under a lot of pressure because of this. I have to walk outside freely,” he told the channel.
Nair’s disclosure came just hours after State BJP general secretary K Surendran alleged that a member of the Chandy family had held negotiations with him and that his son Chandy Oommen was the India chief of a presumably bogus company doing business in the supply of solar power components.
Surendran said that a member of the Chandy family had assured Sreedharan Nair that the money he had given to Saritha in the presence of Chandy’s aide Tenny Joppen would not be lost. This was the reason why Nair was late in filing his complaint, he said, adding that ironically, the focus of police probe was on Saritha Nair and her fraudster ex-husband Biju Radhakrishnan.
Prior to that, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan had said that Chandy and his family had direct and active involvement in the solar scam. “What share of the scam money has the Chief Minister gotIJ” he asked. He said he had tried to speak about this in the Assembly on June 24 but the Speaker had then switched his microphone off.
Chaos over scam in Kerala capital
The infamous solar scam pushed Kerala’s capital city Thiruvananthapuram into chaos on Monday with street fights between youth outfits, protest demonstrations filling the main roads, police personnel blocking and diverting traffic extensively and unprecedented security arrangements at the State Assembly prompting the Opposition to ask, “Is it Emergency againIJ”
In the Assembly, chaos reigned supreme as the Opposition protests demanding Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s resignation over the scam created pandemonium. The Opposition rushed into the well with slogans when Speaker G Karthikeyan refused leave for an adjournment motion on the scam, forcing him to adjourn the House for the day.
About 5,000 policemen were deployed on Monday at the Assembly complex and its surroundings in the context of the possibility of stiff protests by Opposition parties. Even the vehicles bringing MlAs into the Assembly were searched thoroughly. The Speaker said the arrangements were based on Intelligence reports.
Outside the House, the capital saw furious protests by leftist youth organizations and women’s outfits demanding Chandy’s resignation and a march by the Youth Congress to Achuthanandan’s official residence. The Youth Congress activists attacked protesting workers of the AIYF, CPI’s youth outfit, leading to injuries to many of its leaders and workers.
Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said that the left would not stand mute spectators if the Youth Congress attacked women protesting against Chandy. Tension prevailed also in other Kerala centres like Vaikom in Kottayam district and Pathanamthitta as activists of the Youth Congress and AIYF clashed.