Kerala’s Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday showed signs of giving in to pressure from various quarters by indicating readiness to put himself and his office under the purview of the judicial probe the UDF Government had announced on August 13 into the solar scam in which he was facing the charge of direct involvement.
This indication came on Wednesday just as the CPI(M)-led lDF Opposition finalised the letter it was to give the Government to make its suggestions on the areas and persons to be included in the terms of reference of the judicial inquiry even as criticisms openly arose from the left camp itself against the abrupt suspension of its Secretariat siege demanding Chandy’s resignation.
“The Government is open in its approach to the question of judicial probe. We have nothing to hide… Those who still can’t understand what I am saying will come to know of it when the terms of reference of the probe are announced,” he said while replying to newsmen’s queries on whether he and his office would be included in the purview of the judicial probe.
However, Chandy continued to argue that there was no need for him or his office to be included in the terms of reference of the inquiry. “The Opposition had leveled several allegations connecting this financial fraud and my office. But they have not been able to stick on to those allegations or give evidences for any of those charges,” he said.
The Chief Minister, however, reiterated that he would not step down while the inquiry was on, stating that the communists themselves had set the precedent. “A minister facing allegation in the 1957 EMS Government had not resigned when a judicial probe was declared. If that is the precedent they themselves had set, how can the left demand my resignation nowIJ” he asked.
Ever since he announced a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Kerala High Court into the scam on August 13, Chandy has held that his office had no involvement in it despite the circumstantial evidences which linked him personally to the scam and Saritha S Nair and her ex-husband Biju Radhakrishnan, the main perpetrators of it.
Scam victim Mallelil Sreedharan Nair had told the court in a Section 164 statement that he had handed over `40 lakh to Saritha for installing a solar power plant after the Chief Minister personally gave him assurances on her firm’s credibility during a meeting at his office in the Secretariat at which the woman and Chandy’s aide Tenny Joppen, presently in jail, were present.
At the same time, a sub-committee constituted by the lDF has finalised the Opposition’s suggestions on the matters to be brought under the purview of the declared judicial inquiry. The focus of the judicial inquiry should be on the role of the Chief Minister and his office in the scam, according to the lDF which says that there are evidences to support this demand.
The suggestions would be submitted to Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan. The Opposition has already made it clear it would not hold discussions with the Government or the CM on this matter but would intensify its agitation on Chandy’s resignation.
Meanwhile, RSP general secretary TJ Chandrachoodan criticised the abrupt suspension of the lDF’s Secretariat siege last week. Stating that the stir had to be called off half the way because of the errors in judgement of the CPI(M). Chandrachoodan said that the situation would not have occurred if proper discussions were held within the lDF.