Chandy abused power, alleges VS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan on Thursday raised fresh allegations against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on abuse of power for allegedly seeking the opinion and advise of the Advocate-General and Public Prosecutor regarding the Vigilance probe ordered against him by the Vigilance Special Judge in the palmolein import case.Achuthanandan told reporters here that all three had violated the oath of office and secrecy through his act as the probe was ordered against Oommen Chandy the person and not Oommen Chandy the Chief Minister. He said that he too had several cases during his tenure as Chief Minister. At that time, he had never sought the opinion of the Advocate-General or Public Prosecutor. He always discussed the cases with a private advocate.Achuthanandan also said that Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s statement demanding Chandy to give up the Vigilance portfolio had caused confusion among the Opposition.The matter will be discussed in the party forum. The Opposition demand is that Chandy should step down as Chief Minister, he said. In a surprising turn of events Achuthanandan criticised Berlin Kunhananthan Nair for his comments against Pinarayi Vijayan. Kunhananthan Nair had criticised Pinarayi keeping in mind the allegation on a particular corruption case. But he should have remembered that the  investigation was not yet over and it was not at all appropriate from his part to make such comments against the party’s state secretary, Achuthanandan said.VS further said that appointing someone with a tainted track record like Tarun Das as the member of the Planning Board was a serious mistake committed by the State Government. Despite being featured in the controversial Radiagate tapes, Tarun Das had also worked as an advisor to Coca Cola company with whom the previous LDF Government had been at war for using up the drinking water of the people at Plachimada.