Thiruvananthapuram: The infamous solar case, allegedly involving former chief minister Oommen Chandy and a few of his ministers and party legislators, has staged a comeback in time for the assembly elections.
The complainant, who had become a near-celebrity in the wake of the sensational case, has handed over a letter to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking the transfer of the sexual exploitation case to the CBI. It is most likely that Vijayan may agree to the request and ask the CBI to probe the case.
Vijayan’ Left Democratic Front (LDF) had used the solar case to the hilt to win the assembly elections, which Chandy’s United Democratic Front (UDF) lost discreditably. But as soon as the new government came to power, the case was forgotten, until it was dusted out before a prestigious by-election. Having performed its utility for the by-election, the case was again consigned to the dustbin.
When the UDF had to occupy the opposition benches in the assembly, the leader of the opposition position was offered to Ramesh Chennithala, who was the home minister under Chandy while the former CM himself kept a low profile all these years.
But in view of the complex social and religious equations of the state, Chandy, a Christian, has been named the chairman of the Congress election committee, in preference to Ramesh Chennithala, and the case has again been revived.
In all, there are six cases in connection with the episode, in which Oommen Chandy, AICC leader KC Venugopal, a central minister at the time, Chandy’s ministerial colleague Adoor Prakash and Hiby Eaden, both currently MPs, and Abdulla Kutty, who has since switched sides to become BJP vice-president.
A case against Abdulla Kutty had been registered even during the tenure of the UDF government as he was then an MLA belonging to the CPI-M before joining the BJP.
The complainant had alleged that she had been sexually abused by ministers and MLAs in the official residences of ministers and the MLAs hostel.
In the wake of a state-wide agitation by the then opposition LDF, chief minister Oommen Chandy had himself announced the constitution of a one-man commission to enquire into the allegations.
The commission submitted a voluminous report, which was submitted to new chief minster Pinarayi Vijayan soon after his government assumed office.
Apart from using the report as a bogey against the UDF leaders, the LDF government has done pretty little to pursue the cases, as the police officials heading the investigation teams have repeatedly expressed their inability to proceed with those.
