Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday stood his ground by rejecting the demand for his resignation over the solar scam.
“The government has not suffered any financial loss in any dealings with the controversial solar company. It has not granted any out-of-the-way favour to it. Then why should I resign? The Opposition is running a campaign for my resignation citing certain phone calls allegedly made by two of my staff members. There is no justification for this,” Mr. Chandy said at a press conference, convened here to announce the State government’s decision to host a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Kochi a few months from now.
Replying to questions on his meeting with Biju Radhakrishnan, one of the accused in the solar scam, Mr. Chandy maintained that when he met Biju, he was not yet an accused in a murder case. (Biju has since been arrested on charges of murdering his wife in 2006). He had met him on the initiative of Congress MP M.I. Shanavas. He did not want to disclose the contents of the meeting since it was a personal issue. When pointed out that Biju himself had disclosed certain aspects of the meeting, Mr. Chandy said he preferred to keep certain matters confidential, particularly one related to a private meeting.
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