by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Oommen Chandy
Oommen Chandy
Thiruvananthapuram : Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday strongly condemned the proposed move by the Centre to come out with an orange colour passports for those who have not passed their Class 10 examination, calling it discriminatory.
“No way this proposal should go forward. This is creating two different types of citizens, one with education and one without, discriminating Indians based on educational qualifications,” said Chandy.
“If this becomes a reality, the moment an orange colour passport holder lands in a foreign country, he will be treated with disdain and it will have a telling impact on such people’s character and individuality. This should not happen at all.”
He said many of our countrymen toil hard in extreme conditions in various Middle East countries and it’s through their hard work and their remittances that help the state and the country to progress.
S. Irudayarajan, head of the migration department at the Centre for Development Studies here, also denounced the proposed move.
“If in Kerala, according to our studies, around 15 per cent of the 2.5 million Kerala diaspora haven’t qualified Class 10, in other big states it would be more than 50 per cent .
“Dividing citizens based on education is the last thing that should happen in our country and it should be dropped.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Oommen Chandy
Thiruvananthapuram : Police have recorded former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s statement based on BJP leader K. Surendran’s complaint on the former’s remark that he was blackmailed in the solar scam.
The multi-crore solar energy investment fraud that rocked then Chandy government in 2013 was led by Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan. It also came to light that a section of the Chief Minister’s Office had links with the couple.
Police had spend an hour with Chandy at his residence here on Monday, officials said on Tuesday.
Chandy, at the height of then Left Opposition onslaught against him, had announced a judicial probe.
The probe report was submitted last year, which was accepted by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who announced registering cases against Chandy and a dozen senior Congress politicians, besides placing the report in the assembly at a special one-day session.
Soon after the report was placed, Chandy at a press conference claimed he has done no wrong. He also blurted out that he was subjected to ‘blackmail’ in the case.
When this comment made big headlines, Chandy clarified it was not done by a politician. Soon after this statement, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K. Surendran filed a complaint with the state police chief.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Surendran said he filed the complaint because the statement came from a former Chief Minister.
“A Chief Minister is not an ordinary person and if someone is blackmailing him, it is a very serious crime,” said Surendran.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Oommen Chandy
New Delhi : Dismissing allegations of vendetta in ordering a case against his predecessor Oommen Chandy, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday rejected the demand for making public the report of the Justice G. Sivarajan Commission in the solar scam issue saying it will be tabled in the state Assembly at the appropriate time.
“Now, we will submit the Commission report along with the action taken report in the Assembly the next time it meets. It has to be tabled within six months. If we do anything else, that will be illegal. We haven’t taken any partisan decision in this subject. According to law, what a government has to do, we have done only that. The timing (of tabling the report) hasn’t been decided,” Vijayan told IANS.
Rejecting the charge of vendetta as has been alleged by the Congress, Vijayan said the Sivarajan Commission was set up under the Commissions of Inquiry Act by the government under Chandy. “This government didn’t appoint the commission, the previous UDF government had set it up. We had to agitate a lot (when in opposition) to set up the commission,” he said.
The Chief Minister said there was evidence before the Commission and it submitted the report. According to the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the government can take two decisions on the commission report. “First, submit the whole report to the Assembly or we can take action on the report and submit the action taken report to the Assembly.”
“Since it was a very controversial case and it was a four-volume report, we sought legal opinion from the Advocate General and Director General of Prosecution, and according to their advice, we took actions. Now, we will submit the commission report along with the action taken report in the Assembly the next time it meets. It has to be tabled within six months,” he said.
The Solar scam made headlines over four years ago with the arrest of Saritha Nair and her partner Biju Radhakrishnan, who had allegedly conned businessmen by floating their high-level connections including with Chandy, who was then the Chief Minister.
The probe decision was announced by Vijayan after the weekly cabinet meeting last week, based on the recommendations of the Solar Scam Commission report submitted by Justice (retd) G. Sivarajan in September.
A Special Investigation Team led by Director General of Police Rajesh Diwan has been set up to investigate the cases.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to initiate a criminal and vigilance probe against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and several others in what is known as the Rs 7 million Solar Scam case.
Besides Chandy, the probe would also investigate his former cabinet colleagues, a former Union Minister, legislators, other Congress leaders and then senior police officers.
The allegations regarding the multi-crore solar energy investment fraud that rocked the Chandy government in 2013 were led by Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan. Nair had alleged she was sexually exploited by several political leaders.
The Pinarayi Vijayan government also decided to initiate a sexual harassment case based on her letter against all those named by her.
Apart from Chandy, the police would probe former ministers Aryadan Mohammed, Adoor Prakash, A.P. Anil Kumar and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.
The others named in the case are legislator Hibi Eden, former MLAs Benny Behanan and Thampanoor Ravi, Lok Sabha members Jose K. Mani and K.C. Venugopal, former union minister Palanimanickam and party office bearer N. Subramanian.
All those named in the case belong to the Congress, except for Jose K. Mani of the Kerala Congress (Mani).
The probe decision was announced by Vijayan after the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, based on the recommendations of the Solar Scam Commission report submitted by Justice (retd) G. Sivarajan in September.
“The 1,723-page report in four volumes was handed over to the Advocate General and Director General of prosecution for their legal opinion.
“We decided to accept their recommendation and have decided to initiate criminal and vigilance cases as it has come to light this was a fraudulent business and … bribes were given.
“Another case based on the letter by Saritha that she was sexually exploited will also be registered as receiving money and sexual favours are equally culpable.
He said senior police officials who will face the probe include present Director General of Police A. Hemachandran, who had led the probe in 2013, and Additional Director General of Police A.K. Padmakumar.
Vijayan added that a Special Investigation Team led by Director General of Police Rajesh Diwan had been set up to investigate the cases.
The case broke out in June 2013 during Chandy’s rule (2011-16) after reports surfaced that three staffers in the Chief Minister’s Office had contacts with a couple who cheated many investors of money after promising to supply solar panels to them.
The Commission was appointed by the Chandy government in October 2013 under pressure from the then Left opposition.
While Saritha Nair is out on bail, Radhakrishnan is still in custody after it came to light that he had murdered his first wife.
Reacting to the development, Chandy said it would be dealt with legally and not the way the CPI-M did it when cases were registered against them.
“When we decided to appoint this Commission, a public interest litigation came up in the High Court to do away with it. But I filed an affidavit saying it should not be cancelled as the truth should come out.
“I have nothing to fear as I am guided by my conscience. I know I have done no wrong. If they feel they can finish me off through this case, they are thoroughly mistaken because I will bounce back even stronger.
“This is going to backfire on them very badly,” Chandy told reporters in Thrissur, adding it was strange that the Commission report is still kept under the wraps.
State Congress president M.M. Hassan told the media here that this is nothing but political ‘witch-hunting’
Former Chief Minister V.S.Achuthanandan, who as then Leader of Opposition (2011-16), mounted attacks on Chandy on the floor of the assembly after the scam surfaced, on Wednesday asked all those indicted, including Chandy, to quit public life for “outraging the modesty of women, corruption and abuse of power”.
Nair said she was “very happy” with the new developments. “I feel genuinely happy… All that I wanted to happen has happened. The truth will triumph.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Pinarayi Vijayan and Oommen Chandy
By Sanu George,
Thiruvananthapuram : All eyes are on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPI-M to see how they use the judicial commission report on the solar energy investment fraud in which former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s office was allegedly involved.
The report of the Solar Judicial Commission, headed by Justice (Retd) G. Sivarajan, has criticised the manner in which Chandy’s office was involved in helping out a fraudulent couple amass money by cheating innocent investors to the tune of Rs 70 million in the guise of supplying solar panels.
The couple — Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan — was arrested. While Nair is out on bail, Radhakrishnan is still in custody after it came to light that he murdered his first wife.
After the scam surfaced in 2013, Chandy threw out three of his staff members when it was found that they had frequent contacts with Saritha Nair.
Vijayan and his office was presented the report — that runs into four volumes — by Sivarajan on Tuesday. The Chief Minister’s office has begun an in-depth study of the report.
For the CPI-M and Vijayan, Chandy is the most formidable political leader whose popularity has not waned, despite the UDF’s defeat in the 2016 assembly polls. The ruling Left Democratic Front is likely to try and leverage the report for political gains.
One of the four volumes of the Solar Judicial Commission report is on the role of Chandy’s office when he was at the helm. Among the numerous frauds the couple perpetrated, one case pertains to a rich businessman with Congress connections, who was duped.
According to those in the know of things, Vijayan and his close aides in order to keep Chandy under check, are likely to order a re-investigation into the case.
While Saritha Nair has claimed that she met Chandy in his office, he has denied such a meeting. Reopening of this case could give sleepless nights to Chandy.
But Chandy is unfazed and as always continues to say that he is confident because he has done no wrong in the solar scam.
With a crucial CPI-M committee meeting to be held here in the coming days, a game plan on how to checkmate Chandy and keep him on tenterhooks is most likely to emerge.
For Vijayan it could be a way to get even with Chandy who at his last cabinet meeting as Chief Minister before the 2006 assembly elections, had decided to hand over the SNC Lavalin case to the CBI. Vijayan was made the seventh accused in the SNC Lavalin case as he was Electricity Minister when the deal was inked two decades ago.
After a long and protracted legal battle, the Kerala High Court last month gave Vijayan a clean chit in the case.
—IANS
