Thiruvananthapuram: The move by a section of NCP leaders to bring A. K. Saseendran back into the Cabinet was strongly opposed by CPM and CPI in view of the judicial probe, crime branch and cyber cell probe. The LDF leadership had taken a firm stand during UDF government’s tenure seeking the resignation of the then chief minister Oommen Chnady and ministers in the wake of judicial inquiry into Saritha fraud case and vigilance probe into bar bribe issue. At that time it had pointed out the continuation of chief minister and ministers would seriously affect the probe.
Taking an opposite stand on Saseendran issue now would have proved politically untenable for the LDF leadership. Moreover, questions would have also come up regarding the fairness of the investigations. After the news channel tendered unconditional apology on Friday and admitted that it had carried out a sting operation on the minister with the help of a staffer, a couple of NCP leaders raised the pitch for Saseendran’s return to Cabinet. They pointed out that the channel’s apology proved Saseendran’s innocence and also vindicated their allegation that the audio tape aired by the channel was doctored.
Even Saseendran had doubts about the manner in which the entire recording had taken place. According to the former minister only the initial portion of the conversation in which he talks about being in Goa for election campaign of his party was original and the rest appeared to be doctored and added. Even the voice in the audio clip needs to be examined to find out the truth, he pointed out. Meanwhile, Chandy reiterated on Friday that he would vacate the minister’s chair for Saseendran if the latter is exonerated of the charges.
