Opposition fails to corner Chandy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  The titanium scam involving Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had an echo in the Assembly again on Tuesday with the Opposition pressing for an adjournment motion and later staging a walkout over Chandy’s refusal to seek a CBI probe into the scam. With Chandy strongly defending his role in the issue, the Opposition failed to score any points against him in the debate.The two-hour discussion on the adjournment motion moved by Thomas Isaac  (CPM) was held  in full public glare with the Speaker allowing the request by the Chief Minister  for a live telecast of the  proceedings. The Travancore Titanium Products Limited waste treatment scam  is alleged to have  cost Rs 100- crore loss to the state exchequer.   The controversy started afresh after two letters Chandy  had written to G Thyagarajan, chairman of Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, during his last tenure as the CM, surfaced once again the other day. Chandy said  he had written the letters to avoid the closure of the factory. ‘’As a responsible Chief Minister after I got requests from all the unions in the TTPL, I wrote not two but three letters to Thyagarajan as the closure of the factory would affect the direct employment of more than 1,250 employees. My working style is of acting swiftly to resolve matters in my capacity and own up that I have interfered in the issue for the larger interest of the state,’’ he said.Chandy refused to seek a  CBI probe into the case saying a CBI probe is under the consideration of the court and that   it cannot be discussed now. Protesting against his stand,  the Opposition, led by VS Achuthanandan, staged a walkout. The ruling benches then rejected the adjournment motion with voice vote and the Assembly proceedings were resumed.Earlier, kicking off  the discussion on the adjournment motion,   Thomas Isaac alleged that unlike the palmolien case in which Chandy had supported the wrong- doers, in the TTPL scam, Chandy was at  the helm of  affairs and was the decision-maker.“The then CM Chandy had written the letter on  January 5, 2006, the same day when power was wrested from K K Ramachandran and handed over to A  Sujanapal. Ramachandran himself has now alleged that Chandy had taken undue interest in the case and he was not ready to bow down to the pressure which cost him his ministerership. The CM had pushed for the waste treatment plant project when the Kerala State Pollution Control Board had not even granted permission to the project citing 12 reasons,’’ he said.Isaac said the permission was granted by the KSPCB in a one- liner which proves that there was political interference.