THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leaders K C Joseph and K Muraleedharan have come down heavily on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the ruling government, asking the latter to tender an apology to the people first, before presenting the Solar Commission report in the specially convened Assembly session planned for November 9. Both of them warned, while addressing news conferences separately, that the government would have to pay a heavy price politically for its misadventures over the Solar Commission report and political vendetta unleashed against leaders of the Opposition front.
After denying a copy of the report to those including former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and others against whom the Chief Minister had announced a vigilance probe and charges of raping the Solar con woman, the government is now trying to wriggle out of the mess created on its own.
‘Wisdom has come late to the govt’
“The government had thrown caution to the winds. It seems wisdom has come late to the government now,’’ said K C Joseph, deputy leader of the Congress legislature party in the Assembly, observing the latest decision of the cabinet to entrust the examination of the Solar report with Justice (Rtd) Arijith Pasayat, is grave as it means the earlier counsel relied upon and which were used by the government to move against the Opposition were not solid enough. “The CPM and the government will have to give a reply,’’ he said.
Joseph said all the demands put forth by the UDF have been justified by the government, while finally yielding to the demand to table the Solar Commission report in the Assembly. “The Chief Minister has already committed a breach of privilege of the Assembly by divulging the contents and conclusions of the Solar Commission report, and circulating it as a printed press note on October 11. He cannot escape from it,’’ Joseph said.“What is evidently clear is the ineptitude and haste of the government in dealing with the report,’’ Joseph said. He also cast aspersions on the secrecy of the report, going by CPM leader T K Hamza’s statement during Vengara bypoll campaign and of state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan asserting Congress leaders are going to be strapped with cases in the Solar scam.
‘CM was trying to make the Assembly a scare crow’
K Muraleedharan wondered how come a Commission was eager to believe a Solar con woman, more than what a person like two-time Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has to say. “If the words of Saritha alone should be heard, why the government has to spent Rs 7.5 crore and appoint a Commission?’’ he asked. “The government is now seeking legal opinion every day. The government also says that those police officers who had probed the Solar scam were at fault. The government has no confidence in the law secretary either. Instead, legal opinion is being sought from outside,’’ he said.
Muraleedharan had no doubt measures being initiated under the guise of observations in the Solar report would boomerang on the government. “The government is aiming to drag the matter, eyeing the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. For handling a commission report in such an inept manner, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should tender an apology to the people before tabling the report in the Assembly,’’ he demanded.