Solar panel scam: Baseless charges can’t force me out, says Kerala CM Oommen Chandy

KOCHI: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said he had never changed his version of events in relation to the solar panel scam that has rocked the ruling United Democratic Front government he heads.

At a press conference, Chandy said he will not cling to power but “at the same time not resign because of some baseless allegations”. “In the last 10 days I have stood by what I have said inside the House,” he said, adding that unlike what rumours suggest it was not the scam-tainted company, Team Solar, that installed solar panels in his house and office.

The so-called solar panel scam erupted last month after Saritha Nair and her partner Biju Radhakrishnan, who launched a firm called Team Solar, were arrested on complaints that they had collected large sums of money from the public promising them solar panels but did not deliver them. The chief minister’s name was dragged into the issue after his staff was found to have had close links with Nair and Radhakrishnan. Chandy who all along maintained that he did not meet Sreedharan Nair — the complainant in the solar panel scam on July 9, 2012 — had suffered a jolt after the businessman told Malayalam TV channels earlier this week that he met Chandy along with Saritha Nair on that date.

Chandy, however, said that Sreedharan Nair met him to discuss issues related to quarry owners in the state. Chandy said he was unable to provide video recordings of the meeting as the CCTV footage in his office was only kept for 15 days and the web camera in his office did not have a recording facility. Chandy said even earlier, when allegations were made that he had issued a letter of recommendation to Team Solar, they had turned out to be wrong. “My attempt is to find the truth in this matter,” he said.

In an indirect attack against Nair, Chandy said the current allegations are a conspiracy hatched by the Opposition in association with another person and his advocate. “But it has now been proved that Sreedharan Nair paid money to Saritha even before he met me,” he said. Chandy said his government was yet to decide on whether to order a CBI enquiry in the matter.

Normal life was paralysed in the state, after the opposition LDF called for a strike on Wednesday.