Ganesh Kumar says allegations are fabricated

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala's Forest, Cinema and Sports Minister Ganesh Kumar said in a press conference on Monday that allegations raised against him are fabricated and that there is no situation for his resignation now. He added that he was beaten up by his wife Yamini Thankachy at minister’s office.

Without mentioning the name of Chief Whip P.C. George, Ganesh alleged that the present situation was the result of his (Ganesh’s) firm stance against corruption in the Nelliyampathy issue.

He said a team is working to expel him from the position of minister because of his strict stance against corruption. The present problem is their latest plot.

Ganesh clarified that he leads a transparent political life. Politics is not a means of his livelihood. His profession is film acting and it is the means of subsistence. He is a person who pays income taxes in time. Nobody has given him wealth, as somebody says. This will be clear if his income for the last 20 years is examined, he said.

Ganesh said he had asked Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to initiate a probe by a better agency on the issues that allegedly happened on February 22. Nobody from outside had beaten him at his office. It was Yamini Thankachy who beat him up fiercely. Chief Minister advised him to resolve the issue amicably and asked him to make compromises for the sake of his (Ganesh’s) children.

Ganesh said subsequently he decided to borrow Rs. 75 lakh for his children. He also made contract to deposit Rs. 25 lakh each as fixed deposit in the name of his two children. Meantime, his wife Yamini Thankachy asked him to deposit the money in her name. She used to blackmail him for money and this is why he decided to approach court, Ganesh said.

What Yamini says now is by the intervention of people outside his family. If Yamini’s mobile phone number and his telephone number at residence are examined, it will become clear how many phone calls were made to P.C. George. Yamini had also tried to blackmail him in 2001 to give her Rs. 5 lakh. Ganesh also said that his son was with his wife Yamini during the SSLC examinations.

Adding to his woes, his father and Kerala Congress-B chairman R Balakrishna Pillai on Monday renewed the party's demand to the Chief Minister that Ganesh Kumar should be removed from the cabinet for not obeying the diktats of the party.