Just four months away from completing his turbulent five years in office, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, 72, is now trying to fend off an unusual cash-and-sex scandal.
Bjiu Radhakrishnan, the prime accused in the `solar scam’ who is currently serving a life sentence for murdering his first wife, on Wednesday made the accusation before the judicial commission enquiring the scam that he had paid Rs. 5.5 crore as bribe to Chandy. He also alleged that Chief Minister Chandy had sexual relationship with Saritha, the former live-in companion and partner in the solar panel business of Radhakrishnan. Saritha is a co-accused in the `solar scam’ which broke out three years ago and in which some employees in the Chief Minister’s office were involved. Shortly after Radhakrishnan’s allegation before the Justice G. Sivarajan commission, Saritha denied having sex with Chandy. She termed the allegation by friend-turned-foe Radhakrishnan as absolutely false.
Radhakrishnan told the commission that he had with him a video recording of sexual intimacy between Saritha and Chandy as well as with two ministers, two MLAs and another minister’s personal aide. The commission on Thursday ordered him to present the evidence within a week.
The Opposition Left Democratic Front, which had earlier used the solar scam very effectively to corner the Chandy Government, caught on to Radhakrishnan’s allegation and demanded the Chief Minister’s resignation. On Thursday, the Opposition MLAs stalled the Assembly proceedings and rushed into the well of the Assembly, before the Speaker adjourned the House.
Chandy, who challenged the Opposition to prove Radhakrishnan’s allegations, said he would not only resign as Chief Minister but also quit public life `even if one per cent of the allegation’ were true. Later, at a news conference, Chandy alleged that Radhakrishan, who had been sentenced to life for murdering his wefe, was taking revenge by trying to blackmail the Chief Minister. He also said that `certain people’ wanted to kick up the solar scam once again in view of the upcoming Assembly election and that they were using Radhakrishnan for this.
Chandy also pointed out that Radhakrishnan was out of Kerala during the fortnight when he had allegedly handed over more than Rs. 5 crore to Chandy at Thiruvananthapuram. His mobile phone calls proved this, Chandy claimed.
This is the first time in Kerala that a Chief Minister is facing sexual allegation. It has once again revived the infighting in the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front. However, Congress State president V.M. Sudheeran has stood by him saying there was not iota of evidence against Chandy. The party’s national leadership also has put its weight behind him.
For the Opposition, which recently regained a lot of lost political ground with its good performance in the local-body election, the cash-and-sex allegation is great weapon to attack the UDF in the coming election. Senior CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat, V.S. Achuthanandan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan have asked Chandy to go.