Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has sought Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s clarification on the G. Sivarajan Commission submitting an unsigned volume of its solar scam report to the government.
Mr. Chandy told reporters here on Friday that the submission of an unsigned volume was proof of the commission’s laxity. He accused the CPI(M) of trying to divide the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) by using the report, but the party and the front would stand united and explore all legal options to fight the charges.
The authenticity and credibility of a letter of Saritha S. Nair that the commission had included in its report had been questioned. The commission itself had issued an order against her for furnishing piece-meal evidence and said it would not help its functioning. But subsequently, the commission changed its view and came in favour of her, Mr. Chandy said.
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Mr. Chandy refused to name the person whom he had said had blackmailed him in connection with the solar scam, but clarified it was not Kerala Congress(B) leader R. Balakrishna Pillai and said it was not a politician.
He accused the government of pursuing politics of vengeance and wanted the CPI(M) to clarify whether it approved of Saritha’s allegation that it had offered her ₹10 crore to speak out against the UDF. Mr. Chandy said that he did not trust the words of Saritha, but the CPI(M) should come clear on it.
He blamed the Chief Minister’s office for issuing an official press note that projected him and others as accused in the case. He would not succumb to any pressure and would fight the case legally. The commission recommendations were inconclusive and had only set the ground for defaming the leaders, he said.
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