Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will in all probability face a difficult time in the Assembly when it reconvenes on Monday after a gap of 10 business days, as the Opposition is likely to intensify its agitation demanding his resignation over the solar scam.
The Business Advisory Committee of the House met here on Wednesday to finalise the business from July 8. It was decided to wind up the current session on July 18 after considering a few bills to replace ordinances, including the passage of the Appropriation Bill, supplementary demands for grants, and the Finance Bill for the current year.
The Assembly was adjourned abruptly on June 24 after the House put to the guillotine as many as 23 demands for grants. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has managed to sustain its ongoing agitation thanks to new exposures and fresh channel debates on the solar scam. Given the tone and tenor of the agitation by the LDF and its feeder organisations in the last couple of days, further disruption of the Assembly is on the cards, with the government going in for the guillotine once again in getting the Finance and other money bills passed at one go.
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Mr. Chandy, however, stood his ground, rejecting the demand for his agitation. Speaking at a function of the Kerala Secretariat Staff Association here, Mr. Chandy said he did not propose to run away by the black flag demonstrations. “It is impossible to distance me from the people through agitations,” he said. The Chief Minister drew his confidence from the unconditional support he got from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) at the end of the bilateral talks that the leaders of the two parties had on Tuesday. The sudden fall in cordial ties between the Congress and the IUML had proved to be worrisome for the Chief Minister, but he succeeded in dousing frayed tempers for the time being.
Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan found himself on the defensive when his own factional leaders found fault with him in the manner he had handled the solar scam and the Thettiyil cases. However, Mr. Radhakrishnan explained the details of the cases and the imperatives of police action taken so far. He also found himself in media limelight over his visit to actor Shalu Menon’s house in connection with the house-warming ceremony. Ms. Shalu Menon’s alleged ties with solar scam accused, Biju Radhakrishnan, are under investigation.