Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has sought to know where Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s sense of ethics, so forcefully expressed when he sought the late K. Karunakaran’s resignation over the ISRO spy scandal in 1995, has vanished when confronted with a similar situation over the ‘solar scam’ now.
In an article released for publication here on Wednesday, Mr. Achuthanandan said the words that Mr. Chandy had spoken in 1995 were back to haunt him after the Kerala High Court, the entire Opposition, and sections of the Congress and the ruling alliance wanted him to step down over the scam.
The Chief Minister’s resignation was inevitable because there was no past instance of two Benches of the Kerala High Court making observations in such ‘harsh language’ and with its question why the Chief Minister was not being probed, the court was pointing its finger at the “games that the Chief Minister was playing”.
The Opposition Leader pointed out that Mr. Chandy was quite articulate when he led the battle against the then Chief Minister Karunakaran, who had to resign on March 16, 1995, over a court observation.
At the time, Mr. Chandy and the ‘A’ group in the Congress had kicked up much dust over the issue and won over the coalition partners to oust Karunakaran.
Doesn’t Mr. Chandy recall the rallies that the ‘A’ group organised in all districts to press for Karunakaran’s resignation, he asked and added that Karunakaran had stepped down only because he could not hold on for any longer.
Mr. Chandy had stated at an ‘A’ group rally at Alappuzha on January 7, 1995, that only Karunakaran’s resignation would redeem the Congress from the sin of the spy case.
According to him, the situation was so bad that not even little children believed what Karunakaran was saying. Those who now worked overtime to save Mr. Chandy were all privy and witnesses to all this at the time. Mr. Chandy would not be able to keep clear of his words and deeds of 1995 for long, Mr. Achuthanandan said.
