Tapes put Nayanar in a bind

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Aug 1: Kerela Chief Minister E K Nayanar's denial on Wednesday of his admission on Fisheries Minister T K Ramakrishnan'...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Aug 1: Kerela Chief Minister E K Nayanar8217;s denial on Wednesday of his admission on Fisheries Minister T K Ramakrishnan8217;s involvement in the bar license issue has fallen to pieces, with Kerala Congress Jacob legislature party leader T M Jacob hearing the audio tapes of Assembly proceedings and confirming that Nayanar had said Ramakrishnan had erred on the issue.

In a statement here today, Jacob challenged Nayanar to replay the tapes in the presence of Speaker M Vijayakumar, MLAs or journalists.Nayanar had singled out The Indian Express for attack on Wednesday at the Cabinet briefing, alleging that it had misreported his Assembly speech. He even ridiculed the newspaper8217;s brand of journalism.

The following is an excerpt of Nayanar8217;s tape-recorded speech in the Assembly on Tuesday: 8220;8230; the demand is for the ouster of T K Ramakrishnan, who is facing allegations.

We have rectified the wrong done by him. We corrected Ramakrishnan8217;s lapse yesterday itself. Has Karunakaran made any such correction? Has Reghuchandra Bal done so? We have set right the wrong.8221; Jacob said the controversial reference was there twice on the official written record of proceedings and tapes.

8220;Is the Chief Minister ready to examine the official version of the report or the tapes? Perhaps, Nayanar who subsequently realised the danger in the unwitting admission of truth in the Assembly was in a hurry to correct it. But in the hurry he had forgotten that each word uttered in the Assembly would be taped and simultaneously recorded by official reporters. Now, it is not possible to tamper with tapes and records.8221;

The denial outside the Assembly of what he said in the presence of ministers, ruling front members, journalists and officials in the House, especially when it was on records, affected not only Nayanar8217;s credibility but was an insult and disrespect to the House, he said.

He also reminded Nayanar of his famous declaration to sack any minister indulging in corruption within 24 hours. Since Nayanar was now convinced about Ramakrishnan8217;s lapse and had claimed in the Assembly that the Government had corrected it, he should honour his word and sack Ramakrishnan from the Cabinet.