Thiruvanathapuram: The Congress-led United Democratic Front government in Kerala has proposed bringing back two ministers who had to quit recently after adverse court remarks. The development comes a day after the high court stayed a vigilance court directive that a case be filed against the chief minister for bribery allegations against him.
On Friday, the high court had stayed the directive by the vigilance court to register a first information report against chief minister Oommen Chandy in the solar power case, in which he is accused of accepting Rs19 million (Dh70 million) through a middleman.
On Saturday, the UDF meeting appeared to take fresh courage from the high court directive, and proposed that excise minister K. Babu who has already put in his resignation be retained in the cabinet, and also bring back former finance minister K.M. Mani who had resigned after an adverse court remark late last year.
Both Babu and Mani had quit following allegations of accepting bribes from liquor bar owners. While Mani’s resignation was accepted and he quit the post, Babu’s resignation was yet to be forwarded to the state governor.
The UDF convener, P.P. Thankachan proposed that there be an investigation into the “conspiracy” behind Team Solar promoter Saritha S. Nair that she had bribed the chief minister Rs19 million and the power minister, Aryadan Mohammad Rs4 million. Both denied having taken any gratification from Nair.
Thankachan alleged the allegations against the ministers were the handiwork of Nair and the liquor bar owners in the state. The government had shut down all liquor bars in the state except those in five star hotels, which triggered waves of corruption allegation against ministers in the Chandy cabinet, beginning with bribery allegations against Mani and Babu.
However, the newfound optimism of the government will come under fresh threat on Monday when Saritha S. Nair has vowed to reveal more about the dealings of some of the UDF leaders. Nair has stated she has documents to prove her links to the chief minister. Earlier, she had alleged that the chief minister’s son Chandy Oommen had made a trip to Dubai with a woman connected to the Team Solar company.
Chandy refuted the allegations.
