By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram

 

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy yesterday accused the Leftist opposition in the state of trying to stop him receiving the UN Public Service Award in Bahrain last month.

Chandy claimed the UN headquarters had been flooded with e-mail messages from the state against him and there were attempts to stage protests in Bahrain.

“The opposition’s agenda is not bringing the culprits in the ‘solar scam’ case to book. They are actually baying for my blood. I didn’t expect the UN award to provoke such a reaction,” the chief minister said in a signed article released to the media yesterday.

“They now want me to return the award,” he claimed.

The chief minister’s office (CMO) received the prestigious annual award under the Preventing and Combating Corruption in Public Place category for the mass contact programme initiated by Chandy.

The initiative has received nearly half a million petitions and action has been taken on these.

“I received the award on behalf of the tens of thousands of poor people of the state. The opposition forgot that they too co-operated with the programme,” said Chandy who is planning the second edition of the programme from August 12.

Insisting he had no role in the ‘solar scam’ and that the law would take its course, Chandy said he would be more cautious henceforth on the people he meets in his official capacity.

One of his personal aides was arrested and two others sacked for links to the scam.

“My public life is attached to the people. My office, official residence and places I go were always kept open to public and they could come there any time without fear. Such unfortunate incidents (of the fraudsters accessing his office) happened in the process,” he said, vowing to fulfill the aspirations of the people who voted his government to power.

Regarding the scam, Chandy said the investigators had received complaints of cheating to the tune of Rs100mn. However, the shutdown called by the opposition over the scam has cost the economy between Rs8bn to Rs10bn according to the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates besides destruction of public property and hardships to citizens, Chandy pointed out.

The chief minister expressed displeasure over the extended debate on the woman linked to the scam and the continued stalling of the Assembly instead of addressing issues like price rise, floods and epidemics plaguing the state.

Pointing out that he had taken action against members of his personal staff immediately after it was known that they were in touch with the fraudsters, the chief minister alleged that the former home minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, had failed to take action against his personal assistant for accepting a Rs500,000 bribe.

Alleging that little action was taken against the ‘solar scam’ fraudsters by the previous government - which had registered 14 cases involving Rs17.2mn – Chandy said a police team was investigating the case and vowed to bring all culprits to justice.

On the opposition claim that an inspection of CCTV images of his office would shed light on his involvement in the case, Chandy said he had offered the CCTV frames for inspection by a panel that includes an opposition nominee.

However, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, rejected the offer stating it was the duty of the investigating team to probe the matter. Vijayan reiterated the opposition’s demand that Chandy should step down to make way for a judicial probe.

“He is a trickster trying to fool people,” Vijayan told reporters at the party headquarters here. “I am not saying that the government should go at this point of time. He should step down and facilitate an impartial judicial probe”.

Chandy had earlier written to Vijayan to suggest a nominee for the three-member panel of experts he was planning to constitute to probe the scam.