Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said that there is no question of the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) accepting the proposed judicial inquiry into the solar scam if it does not cover the Chief Minister and his office.
The CPI(M) State secretary told a news conference here on Wednesday that nobody should have any illusion about the Opposition position on this. “The Opposition had adopted an upright stand on the issue. If there is any attempt to distort it, the Opposition response would be no different,” he said and added that the Chief Minister should not also hope to participate in any public function as he would have to face people’s wrath.
Not given up stir
Mr. Vijayan said the Opposition had not given up its agitation for the Chief Minister’s resignation over the scandal. All that it had done was to suspend ‘one form’ of agitation. There would now be a ‘series of strong agitations’ to press the same demand. The Opposition decided to end the indefinite siege of the State Secretariat only to avert public ire in the capital city. With thousands of people joining the siege, the city’s population had come under some pressure. If the LDF had not taken the decision to end the siege, the people would have turned against the LDF, he pointed out.
Terms of reference
On the criticism that the LDF had taken the decision to call off the siege despite the government having merely reiterated its readiness to order a judicial inquiry once the ongoing police investigation was over, Mr. Vijayan said there was no truth in the charge because the government had never said before that it was ready for a judicial inquiry. The Chief Minister’s announcement was unilateral and was accompanied by the offer to consult the Opposition about the terms of reference of the inquiry. Mr. Chandy had also said that a sitting judge of the High Court would conduct the probe. Given all this, the Opposition could not but decide to call off the siege, he said.
