Late former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy (Photo/IANS)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Assembly on Monday witnessed a verbal battle between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan over the CBI clearing the late former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the case by the solar scam alleging that she was sexually exploited by him.
Soon after late Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen was sworn in as a legislator, the Congress-led Opposition moved an adjournment motion seeking a probe into the criminal conspiracy hatched by the CPI-M against Oommen Chandy using the solar scam accused.
The motion was moved by three-time legislator and Youth Congress state President Shafi Parambil who read out the media reports citing contents of the CBI report, as per which there was no merit in the allegations of the victim and it was part of a conspiracy hatched by a few from the Left with "middleman" Nandakumar who brought the "victim: before Vijayan few days after he assumed office in 2016.
"The CBI report says of a criminal conspiracy and hence the Vijayan government should apologise to the people of Kerala for haunting Oommen Chandy. It reports that there is no direct link or even circumstantial evidence linking our leader in the allegation," said Parambil.
Satheesan said: "Now that the CBI report has exonerated Chandy, hence, we would like to hear from you if you are prepared to order a CBI report into the criminal conspiracy as reported by the CBI."
In response, Vijayan denied meeting Nandakumar and said that he was one who showed the door to Nandakumar when he came to meet him long time back at Kerala House in Delhi.
"About the CBI report that is now being discussed, the state government has not got it and hence cannot comment on what you (Opposition) are saying. Once the report comes and we go through it, you are free to come up with your need and the government will take appropriate steps at that time," he said.
Meanwhile, the house also witnessed an interesting speech from K.B. Ganesh Kumar who was in the cabinet of Chandy but had to resign due to personal issues just before the solar scam surfaced.
As per accounts, the CBI report has held that Ganesh Kumar had played a crucial role in the letters reportedly written by the solar scam accused of how she was sexually exploited and that had created a furore then.
In his speech on Monday, he said: "I had testified before the CBI and I have mentioned in that letter the name of Chandy was not there and I even told Chandy what I had testified before the CBI. I also want to make it very clear I have had no contacts with the victim at all."
Now all eyes are on what action will Vijayan take once the government gets a copy of the CBI report.
