Ruckus in Kerala Assembly, Opposition stages walkout against Oommen Chandy

Protests broke out in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Friday over the solar scam as opposition LDF lawmakers staged a walk-out while Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was presenting the state budget.

A heated exchange of words between the ruling and opposition party members was witnessed also yesterday in the assembly over a decade-old case relating to awarding a contract.

The solar scam relates to the duping of several persons by the two prime accused - S. Saritha Nair and Radhakrishnan -- who had promised to install solar power panels for them.

Deposing before Justice Sivarajan Commission, which is probing the solar scam, Nair had accused Chandy and his Cabinet colleague Arayadan Mohammed of accepting a bribe of Rs 1.9 crore.

The Chief Minister spent nearly 11 hours on January 27 being questioned by the inquiry panel. He has refused to take a lie-detector test as suggested by Nair's lawyer.

The case took a political turn with the arrest of one of Chandy's close personal aides, who has alleged links with the accused. Two other employees in his personal staff are also under the scanner in connection with the scam.