Kerala solar scam: AICC summons state leaders

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bewildered by the solar case fallout, the AICC leadership has summoned former chief minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC president M. M. Hassan and his predecessor V. M. Sudheeran to New Delhi. AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi has sought a preliminary report on the charges made against the top Congress leaders in the solar scam. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, who met    working committee member  A. K. Antony in Delhi on Thursday, told him that the LDF government’s  action against the Congress leaders was politically motivated. But Mr Chennithala also told him that  the Congress was facing a crisis as the morale of the party workers had  hit rock bottom.

“Justice G. Sivarajan commission has crossed all limits.    The chief minister should make available a copy of the report to the opposition. The CPM has resorted to tarnishing the image of the Congress,”  he said  in New Delhi. He maintained that the allegations  will not stand legal scrutiny and added that the Opposition will stand united to face the solar report both legally and politically. Meanwhile, the consensus list prepared by group leaders for the 282-member governing council has not given preference to youth, women and dalits. Leaders who are above 60 years are in the list under the category of newcomers.

“Only 17 women, eight youth leaders and nine dalits have been included in the list. Newcomers  above 60 years of age who have either been former DCC presidents or who have been defeated in the past elections are in the list,”  a KPCC secretary told DC. The newcomers include Varkala Kahar, Karakulam Krishnapillai, N. Sakthan, A. A. Shukoor, V. J. Paulose and Babu Prasad. Leaders like Vakkom Purushothaman, Rajmohan Unnithan and Manacaud Suresh have been discarded. Sakthan’s name was included from Vamanapuram where he does not have any connection with the local politics.  In a Facebook post on Wednesday, AICC’s central election authority chairman Mullapally Ramachandran had given the names of the states which  had completed the election process, but  Kerala was missing from the list.