Pillai has not told me anything, says Chandy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Congress chairman R Balakrishna Pillai has never told me that Finance Minister K M Mani had accepted bribe to open the bars, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. The chief minister said that he came to know about it only when somebody telephoned him soon after the revelation of the phone dialogues telling bar association working president Biju Ramesh that I was informed.  

Chandy said, “I’ve never met Pillai after the bar bribery scam was revealed. I met him once at the centenary celebrations of NSS at Perunna. I saw him sitting in the dais but couldn’t speak to him. When asked whether Pillai was lying, he said he never said it.  Nobody can weaken the government which has the support of the public.  There were many controversies. The government had won the bypolls and the Lok Sabha polls. That is only because of the support of the government. Nobody can weaken the government which has the support of the public even if the majority is less in the assembly.”