The Communist Party of India (Marxist) could not even convince its own supporters and Left Democratic Front (LDF) constituents of its innocence in the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Wednesday.
“Before pointing fingers at us; let the CPI(M) convince its own men and front constituents,” Mr. Chandy said, answering questions at his weekly Cabinet briefing.
Asked whether there was no undue haste in concluding that the CPI(M) was behind the murder, Mr. Chandy said the conclusions were drawn by those who knew the history of Onchiyam. Clashes and other forms of violence had been taking place in the village for years. “And the people knew who were all involved,” he said.
Referring to the agitation by Student Federation of India (SFI) over the decision of the Syndicate of the University of Calicut on allocation of land to private trusts, the Chief Minister asked whether the SFI could clarify what they were agitating for since no land had been allotted.
The Syndicate had taken a decision and the Syndicate itself had cancelled it. The matter had not even come before the government. If land allocations from the university's were to be probed, the government was willing for a probe into all such allocations, including that of the University of Kerala, if wanted by the CPI(M).This did not mean that the government wanted to cancel the allocation for AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram which was made by a government in which he was a minister.
Mr. Chandy said the government had cleared the proposal for a distillery at Muthalamada in Palakkad district on a court order. That did not mean that the distillery had other clearances regarding environment or water availability. The local panchayat could decide not to grant them licence, if there was water shortage.
He noted that the government had not allowed re-location of the distillery; but permitted it to start operations at the original location as it faced contempt of court proceedings.
Asked about a court order favouring KSEB's contract with Korean company for restructured accelerated power development and reforms project, the Chief Minister said it was V.S. Achuthanandan, who was then the Chief Minister, who should be apologising for retendering the contract.
As the then Leader of the Opposition he had only pointed out matters that had come to his notice.
He said that Kerala was seeking power from the Centrally-funded Kudankulam nuclear project, because Kerala was eligible for a share as per Central guidelines. Kerala also faced power shortage, he said.
