Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has ruled out his resignation, asserting that the truth about the allegations against him will be out soon. The allegations are part of an Opposition conspiracy and it will be fought politically.
Talking to the media after a meeting of the Cabinet here on Wednesday, Mr. Chandy said he was not a person who would do anything to cling on to power. However, if he resigned now, he would be doing injustice to truth. While the allegations against him would be fought politically, the charges against his son, Chandy Oommen, would be fought legally. Decency did not allow him to reply to the allegations against his family on the same terms.
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Mr. Chandy said that even the Opposition was not saying that the ongoing investigation into the solar scam was unsatisfactory. The Opposition did not want an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) because the ongoing probe was satisfactory. The government had not decided on a CBI inquiry either. It had only considered the question in relation to taking a stand on a petition before the High Court seeking a CBI probe. There was a clear case of cheating and an effective investigation was on to prosecute the accused.
He added that the story about his involvement in the scam was a concoction. The complainant, R. Sreedharan Nair, had signed his agreement with Team Solar before the date he claimed to have met him (Mr. Chandy). Mr. Nair had not mentioned his name in his initial arbitration notice. His (Mr. Chandy’s) name was inserted in the complaint filed before the court.
“Would a complaint against the Chief Minister be drafted that way? If he had lost money because of me, would not he be taking up the matter with me first?” Mr. Nair’s statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was the result of an Opposition conspiracy. The Opposition was doing so in disgust as it would not win people’s support against the ruling front.
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Kuruvilla’s plaint
He said the Bangalore-based businessman M.K. Kuruvilla who had complained to him had, in fact, misled him also. The Chief Minister said he had ordered action because Mr. Kuruvilla had alleged that the Chief Minister’s name was used to cheat him. When the police arrested a few people and questioned them for three days, they had a different story to tell. They said that they had been cheated and the petition was filed to prevent them from taking action. They had also approached him and the businessman was arrested on the basis of evidence produced by them. He was behind a Bangalore-based money chain operation.