By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy sought to dispel the barrage of allegations against him as a day-long shutdown enforced by the Leftist opposition to force his resignation threw life out of gear in the state.
“They (opposition) are trying to insult me and force my fall. This is an act of desperation as people are happy with the governance. It’s an affront to the people of this state,” Chandy told reporters here yesterday.
Chandy said there were no contradictions in his statements about the “solar scam” in which his staff were allegedly involved. Dismissing opposition claims of his link to the scam, the chief minister asserted that the ongoing police investigation would bring out the truth and there would be no interventions.
“I’m not the kind of person who would cling to power at any cost. But if I quit on these baseless allegations, it would be an injustice to the truth. The truth should prevail,” he stressed.
“This is a clear case of cheating. The ongoing investigation will also expose the opposition conspiracy”.
The opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) has been disrupting the state assembly for 10 consecutive days over the issue - forcing Speaker G Karthikeyan to adjourn the monsoon session sine die Tuesday.
The opposition has now lined up a series of agitations outside the House. “I have nothing to fear. I have done no wrong. My strength is the confidence that I have. Above all, I know that if I do wrong, I will have to pay the price for it,” he said after the weekly cabinet meeting.
“I have been saying the same thing in the Assembly and I have not changed my statement as made out to be by the media”.
The chief minister said his son Chandy Oommen, who is also one of the secretaries of the Youth Congress in the state, was taking legal action against those who made the allegations made against him.
“My government’s priority is to complete the investigation into this criminal case and bring the culprits before the law. The investigation is progressing in an effective manner,”Chandy said ruling out his resignation.
“Once the investigation is complete, we are ready to hear what the opposition had to say”.
The chief minister also criticised the television media for running allegations as “breaking news” and not bothering to check the veracity of the information.
“The media has the freedom to give statements by political opponents as “breaking news”. But when you drag my family into this, you should have got your facts right,” he told the reporters.
Besides Biju Radhakrishnanan and his partners Saritha S Nair and TV actress-dancer Shalu Menon, Chandy’s staff Tenny Joppan with whom Nair was in touch, are now in police custody as part of the investigation.
Two other members of the chief minister’s personal staff and director of public relations have since been sacked.
“The opposition is not interested in the truth. They know the muck first emerged while they were in office, and not even a criminal case was registered then. But we will let the people of Kerala know what exactly has happened,” Chandy said.
Violence, vandalism mark shutdown
Life across Kerala was crippled due to an opposition sponsored shutdown demanding Chandy’s resignation. Clashes and destruction of properties were reported from several places as strike enforcers went on the rampage. Except for a few private vehicles and two-wheelers, other modes of transport were off the road while shops, including hotels remained closed. The international container transshipment terminal operated by Dubai Port World was hit hard and industry sources say it would take at least a week to set the container movement in order. Construction of Kochi Metro which began last month with a countdown clock of 1,095 days came to a grinding halt for the first time. Industry circles estimate the cost of the strike to the state’s economy at Rs40bn.