Shutdown in Kerala today as ‘solar scam’ issue heats up

Supporters from the Students Federation of India (SFI) throw bricks at police during a protest near the university in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.

By Ashraf Padanna/ThiruvananthapuramThe Congress party which leads Kerala’s ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) has ruled out a leadership change in the state as the Leftist opposition called a shutdown demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Schools, government offices, public transport, shops, hotels and business establishments will be forced to remain closed today. Several leaders of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) leaders were hurt as opposition activists took to the streets and clashed with the police in the state capital.The office of Dr Shashi Tharoor, who represents the state capital in Parliament, also came under attack. Leader of the opposition, V S Achuthanandan, 89, was admitted to the hospital as he felt uneasiness after inhaling smoke from a police grenade that landed near him while addressing protesters.Former minister C Divakaran also sought treatment for difficulty in breathing.The Congress party’s central leadership made its stand clear yesterday after the media speculated on Chandy’s resignation over the ‘solar scam’ in which a fake company duped several investors claiming that they had his patronage. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Mukul Wanik and Defence Minister A K Antony said there were no crisis in Kerala and the leadership change was not on the agenda of the party. “When the allegations cropped up, the government had ordered an investigation. Let it be over. There are laws. Now the opposition is unleashing violence and trying to force the chief minister to resign. That will not happen. There is no political crisis here,” Antony told reporters in Kochi.His response came after Chandy rejected the opposition demand in the Assembly leading to its adjournment and widespread violence.The opposition activists engaged in a pitched battle with the police at several places in the city.“The opposition is crossing all limits of decency. They are also dragging even members of the (chief minister’s) family into this,” said Antony, who arrived in Kerala after a four-day visit to China to attend the funeral of his elder sister who was living in a convent and died aged 80.The police have arrested Chandy’s close personal aide Tenny Joppan for his alleged links with Biju Radhakrishnan and Saritha S Nair against whom 43 cases of cheating were registered. Radhakrishnan also faces murder charges in connection with the mysterious death of his wife in 2006.“The issue of a leadership change has not reached us. I am not aware of any such move and whatever is being talked about may be mere speculations,” Wanik, who is in charge of Kerala, said in New Delhi.In the Assembly, Chandy strongly refuted the opposition charges and stuck to his earlier position that he had only met businessman Sreedharan Nair twice as part of the leaders of Kerala Quarry and Mines Association, of which he is the president and he had “not discussed any solar project”.Nair, who lost Rs4mn in his bid to set up a solar plant in a government-run industrial park in Palakkad with the help of the fraudsters, had appeared on Malayalam TV channels and alleged that Chandy had encouraged him to invest in the project.When the opposition legislator Dr Thomas Isaac asked if Saritha S Nair, the live-in partner of Biju Radhakrishnan, who is the kingpin in the scam, was among his visitors, the chief minister said there were plenty of people in his office and he would not be able recognise everyone.“I had met him twice and I told you this on Monday itself. I stick to what I have said. He had signed for the so called solar power plant and issued a cheque for Rs4mn before the first meeting on July 9 (last year,” Chandy said dismissing allegations against him as a political conspiracy.Seeking permission for an adjournment motion earlier on police baton charge on agitating youth activists, C Divakaran of the Communist Party of India (CPI) said, “There is no other option for Chandy than to quit, if he has an iota of political morality”.Amidst pandemonium, the Assembly passed the Finance Bill-2013 without discussion and adjourned sine die as the opposition continued to disrupt proceedings demanding the resignation of the chief minister over the solar panel scam issue.