Thiruvananthapuram: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy’s revelation about a man who blackmailed him has set tongues wagging in the Congress about his identity. Mr Chandy clarified on Friday that the alleged person is not a politician, but the beneficiary turned out to be a politician. This set rumour mills dishing out names. Some believe it could be one of his former Cabinet colleagues. Mr Chandy has himself ruled out the names of KC (B) chairman R. Balakrishna Pillai and his son K.B. Ganesh Kumar, MLA in this regard.
However, Mr Chandy's loyalists remain tight-lipped about the statement. They fear he could land in soup if the police takes cognisance. Legislator K.C. Joseph, and Chandy loyalist told DC that he was caught unawares when the former chief minister kept everyone in suspense. “I do not know why Chandy said so. Anyway, he has not shared this incident with me. It is not fair to bother him about this. Let us hope that Mr Chandy would himself end this suspense soon,” said Mr Joseph.
While a section of leaders feel that it could be a slip of the tongue, others claim that he did it to deliberately ward off the media glare from the solar scam. However, Mr Chandy is in no mood to reveal his mind now, keeping the media and the Congress in suspense.
“Chandy has violated the oath he took as chief minister not to work against the interests of the office and the state. He is bound to answer who tried to blackmail him,” a KPCC secretary told DC. BJP leader Surendran expressed surprise as the police didn’t register the statement of Mr Chandy in an incident that was under judicial inquiry in the state. “Oommen Chandy is a person who had vowed to implement justice without fear or bias. But through this revelation, he has violated the oath of office. If the government doesn’t conduct probe, the BJP will approach the court. A complaint will be lodged with DGP in this regard,” said Mr Surendran.
