Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy should be arraigned as an accused in the solar scam, as the statement of the complainant Sreedharan Nair, made under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, had indicted Mr. Chandy in more ways than one.
Inaugurating a day-and-night sit-in of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), demanding the resignation of Mr. Chandy, in front of the Secretariat here on Monday, Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Nair had stated that he had met Mr. Chandy, along with Saritha S. Nair, one of the key accused in the scam, and moreover, that he had paid the last instalment of cash to her only because of the assurance given by the Chief Minister. This proved that Mr. Chandy was involved in the scam, making it imperative that the Chief Minister was listed as an accused in the scam.
Earlier, Mr. Vijayan reiterated that the LDF was pressing for Mr. Chandy to resign and face an impartial judicial investigation, and toppling the government was not on the front’s agenda. Propaganda was being conducted on such lines by vested interests only to help Mr. Chandy, he said, pointing out that it was not just the LDF that believed in Mr. Chandy’s involvement in the scam.
Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, criticising the Chief Minister’s reported statement on the cause for the infant deaths in Attappady, said it was unfortunate that the Chief Minister had time to spend with a person like Biju Radhakrishnan, another of the key accused in the scam, but not enough time to learn the actual issue in Attappady. He should stop trying to hang on to power and instead, step down and face a judicial investigation.
The sit-in will continue till 10 a.m. on Tuesday. It will begin in all district headquarters across the State from Wednesday.
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