Kerala solar scam turmoil continues

Thiruvananthapuram: There was another round of turmoil in the Kerala assembly today over the solar plant scam, with Opposition benches rooting for the resignation of chief minister Oommen Chandy. Following the ruckus over the matter, the speaker ended proceedings in the House barely 10 minutes after they had begun, and the question hour and zero hours were scrapped.

Later, Chandy said there was no need for him to resign for some of his staff members getting in touch with the promoters of the controversial solar power company. Biju Radhakrishnan and his wife Sarita S. Nair, who ran Team Solar and conned several people by promising huge returns on investment in solar projects and windmills in Tamil Nadu, are both in police custody.

In a related incident, Radhakrishnan has reportedly confessed to police that he was behind the murder of his first wife, Reshmi. Their two children are now being looked after by Reshmi’s parents.

Explaining his stand to media, Chandy said, “When I met Biju Radhakrishnan, it was some personal matters that he discussed, and I am not willing to disclose them to you. Radhakrishnan was an accused even during the tenure of the (previous) Left Democratic Front government, but the Opposition does not want to discuss that now”.

Despite the controversies arising out of the fact that his staff members had spoken on official phones to the tainted Team Solar promoters, and his own contentious meeting with Radhakrishnan, Chandy said he would not be imposing any restrictions on visitors, because he could not “mentally reconcile to a restriction on visitors”.

Two of Chandy’s staff members, personal assistant Tenny Joppan and gunman Salim Raj had been removed from their duties at the CM’s office after they were found to have repeatedly been in touch with Radhakrishnan and Sarita Nair.

In continued protests demanding Chandy’s resignation, Yuva Morcha activists marched to the state secretariat today, and clashed with the police. State home minister said the Opposition had not taken the initiative to book Radhakrishnan during their tenure and was now accusing the government of shielding him, despite the government having arrested both Radhakrishnan and Sarita Nair.