Kerala opposition demand scam investigation

Thiruvananthapuram: The uproar over the solar power scam in Kerala showed no signs of subsiding as the state assembly witnessed unruly scenes and the Communist Party of India Marxist-led opposition Left Democratic Party met the state governor demanding the resignation of chief minister Oommen Chandy and a judicial probe into the scam.

Trouble began in the state assembly on Thursday morning when home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan addressed remarks made about him by opposition leader VS Achuthanandan. The opposition leader had on Wednesday responded aggressively to the home minister’s statements. The home minister’s reference to that issue triggered unrest among the opposition benches and they rushed towards the ruling front MLAs.

The incident prompted the speaker to declare the day’s session to be closed. It was also decided to drop the assembly session on Friday, to give MLAs time to visit their constituencies wherever there has been widespread damage caused by the monsoon rains.

With Thursday’s disruption of the assembly proceedings, all four days of the state assembly this week have been affected by the allegations over the solar power scam.

Two of chief minister Oommen Chandy’s staff members, his personal assistant Tenny Joppan and gunman Salim Raj were removed from their duties and the state public relations director A Firoz was suspended by the government in the wake of reports of their alleged complicity with the perpetrators of the solar power scam.

The key operators of Team Solar, Biju Radhakrishnan and Sarita S Nair, are both in custody. They had promised dozens of people hefty returns from investments in solar power plants and windmills and duped them to the tune of millions of rupees.

Government chief whip PC George made a new statement Thursday, alleging that one of the policemen in Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan’s security team also had links to the solar scam.

The ruling front’s main contention is that chief minister Chandy had no direct link to the scamsters. They also point out that the previous Left government had not acted promptly in the case of the alleged murder of his wife by Biju Radhakrishnan.

Chief minister Chandy has steadfastly refused to resign, pointing out that it was his staff members who made the telephone calls to Radhakrishnan and Nair, and that the erring staffers had both been removed from their duties.