Solar scam report to be tabled in Kerala Assembly today

Priya sundarajan Updated - January 09, 2018 at 02:25 AM.

Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy (file photo)

The one-day special session of the State Assembly convened by the Kerala government today to table the judicial commission report in the solar scam case could witness uproarious scenes.

The session is in the wake of a Cabinet decision to proceed against Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy and other party leaders named by accused Sarita Nair in a letter to the commission.

RESTRAINT ADVISED

It is learnt that the government has been advised some caution with respect to 'going out' all against Chandy given the uncertainty whether such an action would stand legal scrutiny.

Even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan aims to shame leading names in the Opposition, including predecessor Chandy, the latter has kept the powder dry for a counter attack.

The controversy involving yet another Pinarayi cabinet member, Transport Minister Thomas Chandy, has come as a godsend for the Opposition to neutralise the ruling CPI(M)-led government.

Chandy is alleged to have encroached on government land and parts of the placid backwaters in Kuttanad to set up a private resort, as has been reportedly found in an official inquiry.

In an advance move to keep the Opposition at bay, the government has appointed an SP (vigilance) to inquire into allegations against the minister, after having been directed so by a vigilance court.

FORMER CM DEFIANT

Meanwhile, Ramesh Chennithala, Leader of Opposition, who is in the midst of a roadshow in North Kerala, would take a break to attend the crucial day's session in the Assembly,

Chennithala is spearheading his party's agenda in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll after the BJP and the CPI(M) took out similar exercises during the past month or so.

Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy, against whom various allegations have been raised in the solar case and mentioned as such in the inquiry report, remains nonchalant.

He has gone on record saying he was not concerned about the newly instituted vigilance inquiry or the nature of allegations, including those of sexual exploitation of Sarita Nair, one of the prime accused.

On his part, Leader of Opposition Chennithala said that the government was merely trying to defame and humiliate the septuagenarian Chandy who has had a chequered and illustrious political career.

Published on November 9, 2017 03:56