Chandy alleges BJP-Left nexus as secretariat siege begins

By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy yesterday said he suspected the existence of a nexus between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left to undermine the Congress party in his state.

Addressing a news conference on the eve of the Left opposition’s indefinite siege to the state secretariat, Chandy said the camaraderie was aimed at the upcoming general elections.

“Deve Gowda and his (Janata Dal-Secular) party has already reached an electoral pact with the BJP in this month’s by-elections to parliament,” Chandy said. “The BJP wants to reduce the Congress numbers to make the going easy for (their prime ministerial candidate) Narendra Modi,” Chandy claimed.

Gowda is today scheduled to inaugurate the siege called by the Democratic Front (LDF) - that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leads in Kerala - to press for Chandy’s resignation over the ‘solar scam’ in which three members of his personal staff had links.

In a bid to prevent the siege, the chief minister has fortified the state capital with the help of federal security forces.

CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and Communist Party of India (CPI) chief Sudhakar Reddy are to address some 100,000 volunteers drawn from different parts of the state to blockade the secretariat indefinitely.

“The BJP wants the Congress seats from Kerala in the next Lok Sabha to be reduced and the CPM wants as many seats as possible. Both parties are hand in glove when it comes to protests in our state,” said Chandy.

For the August 21 by-elections to Mandya and Bangalore rural Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, the BJP has withdrawn its candidates in favour of Gowda’s party, an LDF ally in Kerala.

Chandy wondered why Karat was not going to Calcutta and calling a blockade on Writers’ Building over the Rs30bn Sarada Chit scam in which an estimated 1.4mn people, including those from remote villages were cheated.

“There are 33 cases filed in connection with the solar scam and the total loss estimated in all these cases together is less than Rs70mn. But the CPI-M is silent in West Bengal. This is a political game,” he said. “I request this agitation be withdrawn and law and order be maintained”.

Responding to his offer of talks, the opposition leaders said they would call off the siege only after Chandy’s resignation and the constitution of a judicial probe. They also rejected his appeal to leave the Cantonment Gate. The strike would be peaceful and no confrontation was intended, the opposition leaders claimed.

Meanwhile, the state capital has plunged into a near shutdown situation as thousands of LDF workers arrived in the city to lay siege to the seat of power and security forces were deployed everywhere.

Chandy also attended meetings of his Congress party and the United Democratic Front (UDF) that it leads. Both the meetings unanimously decided to rally behind the chief minister and to hold public rallies in all the 140 assembly constituencies to explain their stand.

Meanwhile, the police have sent out warning notices to lodge owners and others against providing shelter to the agitators.

“They are creating a warlike situation here. You cannot deal with the people’s uprising like this. Our volunteers will not be provoked by this,” said CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. “The chief minister is completely isolated within his party and the ruling coalition”.

CM’s photo with arrested woman telecast

Some TV channels in the state last night aired a picture of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with Saritha S Nair, a woman arrested for an alleged role in a scam related to solar panels. Nair and her business partner in the controversial “Team Solar company” had allegedly duped numerous investors of Rs70mn”. Nair and her partner are both behind bars along with Teny Jopan, the former personal assistant of Chandy. After the chief minister’s photo with Nair was splashed across TV channels, his party colleague Sooranad Rajasekharan said the picture did not mean much. “Chandy is accessible to anyone and anyone can meet him and say anything to him, so this does not mean a thing,” said Rajasekharan.