Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor has said that the evidence recorded by the solar judicial commission is not the same as the finding of guilt by the court.
“That has not happened yet. Of course, the State government has political reasons to conduct such an investigation. That’s fine. But the fact is that whether there was wrongdoing is yet to be established,” he said at an interaction with the media and members of the Kochi chapter of the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC) here on Friday. Holding that he was yet to go through the report, Mr. Tharoor alleged that there was a rush for judgment in the media, which was not always fair.
“One person has said a number of things. It seems many of them have not been fully verified. The State government in tabling the report has only said that there are grounds for investigation. There is no conclusion of an investigation and no chargesheet. We are not yet at a stage here when presumption of wrongdoing has been established,” he said.
‘Condemnable’
However, Mr. Tharoor said the incident was “condemnable and should not have happened, if the investigation established exploitation [of the scam accused].”
Replying to a question whether the AIPC, which he leads, will have groups similar to the ones in the Congress, Mr. Tharoor said the new organisation would not be group-based.
“This [groups in the Congress] is a historical legacy, which is unfortunate. But very often, groupism becomes self-reinforcing. The party tends to get accustomed to the existence of such groups. Then benefits such as party position, tickets and so on come through the group. It’s a fact nonetheless,” he said.
