Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 28 : If there is one person in Kerala who is having a hearty laugh it’s none other than two-time former Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as he is watching the turn of events and the person who haunted him most in 2016 was his rival and present Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who is now facing the heat.
At the height of the solar scam when con woman Saritha Nair, who got friendly with two of Chandy’s staff members, Vijayan was going hammer and tongs demanding the resignation of Chandy, saying he had no moral right to continue in office.
That particular speech of Vijayan wherein he asks Chandy, if he has any morals and scruples he should immediately quit, has now turned viral.
And once on an official trip to Vijayan’s hometown at Kannur, Chandy had to face the ire of the then angry opposition led by Vijayan’s party CPI-M who was waylaying him wherever he went demanding his resignation, a huge stone was flung at his car and it broke the glass panes of his car and injured his chest.
And when the CPI-M claimed Chandy was feigning injury, in the midst of a press conference, Chandy bared his chest to show the injury.
Now, five years later on Wednesday came the news that Vijayan’s most trusted IAS official who was also his secretary – M.Sivasankar is now picked up by the Enforcement Directorate after the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in the gold smuggling case and hence demands of both the Congress and BJP have intensified with cries calling for his resignation.
The links between Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh – the prime accused in the gold smuggling case has now revealed that they were very close and it was Vijayan who had introduced the high flying influential woman to Sivasankar.
Swapna was employed in the UAE Consulate office and after quitting her job she joined in the Space Park which is directly under Vijayan and she got a job with a salary of Rs 1.50 lakh, despite having not even passed Class 10, according to her brother.
Reacting to it, the soft spoken Chandy said even though in the past numerous government officials have faced cases, this is the first time in the history of the state that the topmost official in the CM’s office is caught in such a grave crime.
“Vijayan has no moral right to continue in office and very soon, the political role of people in the numerous cases will come out .Hence Vijayan on moral grounds has to quit,” said Chandy.
Since Wednesday morning after the court denied bail, Vijayan is yet to speak and on expected lines, his daily media briefing after the Covid pandemic began, has not been scheduled and Thursday being a public holiday, it’s unlikely Vijayan will make an appearance in the coming days.
However, CPI-M leaders appearing on TV channels said one cannot compare the solar scam and the gold smuggling case, besides pointed out that the staff of Chandy were private individuals while Sivasankar is a government employee and hence there is no need for Vijayan to quit
.
