The Assembly session that is resuming on Monday is poised to be stormy with more revelations in the Solar scam coming out. It was adjourned two weeks back following the protest from the Opposition demanding Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s resignation in the scandal.
When the House was adjourned on June 24, the LDF was demanding Chandy’s resignation over the involvement of his office in the Solar scam. Now, after the arrest of Tenny Joppan, CM’s personal assistant, and leaked call details of Saritha Nair revealing the connection of more Congress leaders, including Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radakrishnan, the Opposition enjoys upper hand in the House to press for a judicial probe.
The Opposition will also demand to probe Thiruvanchoor Radakrishnan’s connection with Saritha Nair and starlet Shalu Menon, a demand the Opposition had already raised when the call details of Saritha Nair came out. Also, Thiruvanchoor doesn’t enjoy the full confidence of the Congress members as there is enough resentment in the Congress camp itself over the leakage of the call details of Saritha.
Opposition Deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan already made it clear that the Opposition would voice their demand for judicial probe inside the Assembly. “The UDF Government’s move to handover the Solar scam case to the CBI is just a ploy to cover up the involvement of the Chief Minister and other Ministers in it. The Solar scam issue will be raised in the Assembly. If the Congress tries to use Youth Congress activists to block the protests staged by the LDF outside the Assembly, then it will only result in a street fight,” he said.
On the other hand, the sexual exploitation charge against Jose Thettayil is the only ammo with the ruling front. But, with the recent High Court observation that it cannot be termed a ‘rape’ as alleged by the woman, the Opposition Benches would get a chance to defend the allegation as a ‘politically motivated’ case, a stand taken by the JD(S). The session that was adjourned on June 24 after passing grants through guillotine, is scheduled till July 18.