Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has said that the Oommen Chandy Cabinet has lost its right to remain in office now that it has become clear that several Ministers, including the Chief Minister and the Home Minister, were in touch with solar scam accused Saritha S. Nair over phone.
In a statement here on Thursday, Mr. Achuthanandan said the entire Cabinet appeared involved in the conspiracy hatched by Saritha and her companion as could be seen from the several phone calls made by the Ministers to them. When the Ministers, including the Home Minister, appeared to be involved in the scam, there was no other option but for the Chandy Cabinet to resign, face prosecution, and seek a fresh mandate, he added.
The Opposition leader pointed out that the Home Minister had not responded to his demand that he divulge details of his telephonic conversation with Saritha. Since cases had been registered in the past against persons for having talked to the accused in various cases, the same principle should be applied to Mr. Radhakrishnan as well. The Chief Minister and the Home Minister should also clarify what their personal staff members had discussed with Saritha, he said.
Mr. Achuthanandan also sought an explanation as to why companies such as Surana, Adithya, and Power One were initially empanelled by the State Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) and why they were excluded later. There must be an explanation why no case was registered against persons named Adarsha and Ranjith, whom the Bangalore-based businessman M.K. Kuruvilla had accused of financial fraud. Instead of arresting them or questioning them, Mr. Kuruvilla was arrested and his financial sources investigated, the Opposition leader pointed out.