CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday demanded that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy should be brought under the ambit of the probe into the solar scam. Inaugurating the LDF’s ‘day-night’ dharna organised in front of the Secretariat demanding a judicial probe and resignation of the Chief Minister in the scam, Pinarayi said the LDF agitation was not for toppling the UDF Government, but to oust the Chief Minister who is also a party to the scam.
“Those who are trying to depict the Opposition’s agitation as a liberation struggle are in fact helping the scam-tainted government,” he said.
Pinarayi pointed out that many ministers, including Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, have committed mistakes with regard to the scam. But the LDF is demanding the Chief Minister’s resigation only. “If the Chief Minister is innocent, the best way to save himself is to order a judicial probe. If Chandy is still reluctant to do it, it is because he is afraid that more damaging informations would come out in a judicial probe. Every day, more and more revelations are coming out against the Chief Minister,” he said.
Pinarayi said when Government Chief Whip P C George alleged that the scam was amounting to `10,000 crore there were not much takers. But now it has come to light that the scam is more than `40,000 crore. He called for a probe into how the solar projects worth `40,000 crore submitted to the Chief Minister reached the hands of Saritha S Nair.
Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said that solar projects should not be abandoned in the name of the scam as they would be helpful for the common people to get access to free power. The LDF likes to go ahead with the projects. For Kerala which is bereft of enough electricity, solar power is a solution.
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Pannian Ravindran also spoke.
The day-night agitation will continue at the district headquarters from Wednesday.