The raging solar scam finally caught up with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here on Tuesday with an aggrieved entrepreneur reportedly confiding to a court that he had met him along with the two accused.
Purported contents of the statement leaked out by TV channels late on Monday night sought to directly link Chandy in the scam involving scamsters leaving aspirant solar entrepreneurs short-changed.
BEST BET
This had sent the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front into a huddle almost immediately where the Chief Minister was said to have offered to resign.
But coalition partners and Cabinet colleagues prevailed on him to stay on since he was the best bet to lead a Government that has a wafer-thin majority of two in the 140-member House.
The meeting was of the view that the developments were part of a larger plot hatched by the Opposition CPM-led Left Democratic Front, which had not spared even Chandy’s family from its attack.
It advised the Chief Minister that there was no need to resign merely on the basis of the statement of Sreedharan Nair, aggrieved person in the scam.
SHIFTING POSITIONS
The Chief Minister did not have to contemplate of the extreme step at least until the courts made any adverse comment on his alleged role in the case.
Nair had repeatedly shifted positions and corrected himself on facts relating to the case, it was reasoned. Nair had reportedly stated in his affidavit that he had met the Chief Minister in his office in July last year when the latter had promised all help to implement his solar panel project.
He had also mentioned that Saritha Nair, one of the prime accused, was present as was Tenny Joppen, once member of Chandy’s personal staff but since fired for being in cahoots with her.
Speaking in the Assembly on Monday, Chandy said he had met Sreedharan Nair but in an entirely different context. On Tuesday, he said he had met him not once but twice.
The topic of discussion was issues relating to the quarrying sector of which Nair was an entrepreneur.