Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy has played down a fresh twist to the solar power controversy, which rocked his government through most of 2014.
In the latest allegations, one Rijesh, the brother of Manilal — who is a deputy manager of the Team Solar company and presently in jail — has accused the chief minister of promising help to get his brother out of jail.
The key accused in the solar power scam, Saritha Nair was also alleged to have close links with the chief minister and his office, an allegation that Chandy denies.
However, some members of the chief minister’s office were removed from their posts after the allegations emerged. Team Solar company had promised attractive returns to investors for investments in the solar and wind power sectors.
In the latest development, Rijesh produced a taped telephone conversation to support his claim that he had spoken to the chief minister who had promised help to get his brother Manilal out of jail.
Chandy countered Rijesh’s claim on Thursday, pointing out that the fact that Manilal was still in jail proved that he had not given any help out of the way, as alleged by Rijesh.
“There is no question of succumbing to blackmailing tactics”, Chandy said. The chief minister said he had spoken to Rijesh because the latter introduced himself as a Youth Congress leader.
Chandy said Rijesh and his mother had met him during a United Democratic Front convention and sought help. He said he promised help and that at that time he was unaware that they were linked to the solar case.
Communist Party of India leader, V.S. Sunilkumar had also given a statement to the solar case investigation commission that Chandy had provided help to Manilal.
Rijesh claimed that the chief minister told him that he had directed P.A. Madhavan, MLA to provide all assistance to Rijesh. Meanwhile, a video showing Rijesh and his mother visiting Madhavan for help and the MLA chasing them off by waving a footwear at them, was also aired by television channels. Madhavan said the allegations against him were “baseless”.
