Solar scam: Congress to fight legally and politically

The party's political affairs committee, which met here today, also decided to seek a legal opinion over the government's decision to initiate criminal and vigilance proceedings against many of its leaders, including former chief minister Oommen Chandy, on the basis of the report.

It also felt that the government's decision was politically motivated, without adequate consultation and legal scrutiny, Kerala Congress President MM Hassan, who briefed the media about the deliberations at the meeting, said.

The party would launch an intensive campaign against the government's decision, which it said was taken with "ulterior motives", in connection with the report of the Justice G Sivarajan Commission, which investigated the scam, he added.

"The government's decision to seek a fresh legal opinion over the solar commission report itself proves that the first legal opinion in this regard was wrong," Hassan said.

It had been proved that the advocate general and director general of prosecution had given a legal opinion, overstepping the commission's findings, he claimed.

Hassan alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced the decision to order criminal and vigilance proceedings against the Congress leaders without consulting the law department or his cabinet colleagues.

He also suspected that the developments were part of the LDF government's plans to "elevate" the BJP as the opposition party in the state by destroying the Congress.

The LDF government had, on October 11, announced its decision to order a probe against some Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders, including Chandy, after lodging a case against them, based on the commission's report.

The solar scam is related to the duping of several people of crores of rupees by Team Solar, a company floated by prime accused Saritha Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan, by offering solar panel solutions to them.

The commission was appointed by the previous Chandy government itself after the scam triggered a political turmoil in the state.