Chandy declares judicial probe into solar scam

Sitting judge of the Kerala high court would probe the case and the next Cabinet meet would decide the terms of inquiry

With the UDF government announcing a judicial probe into the solar scam, the CPI-M led LDF Opposition, which has been demanding resignation of chief minister Oommen Chandy, today ended its siege to the secretariat, which saw thousands of protesters converging in the state capital since yesterday.      

In a conciliatory move, Chandy announced the decision to hold a judicial probe into the scam after consulting senior leaders of the Congress and its UDF allies today.

The Left Democratic Front leaders met at CPI(M) state headquarters AKG Centre and decided to end the blockade as part of their demand was met by the government under opposition pressure.   

CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan made a formal announcement of the end of the blockade before protesters in front the secretariat, but maintained that LDF would carry on with other forms of struggle for resignation of Chandy.      

Addressing a press conference at Thiruvananthapuram, Chandy said a sitting judge of the Kerala high court would probe the case, and added, the next Cabinet meet would decide the terms of inquiry.

The decision to announce a judicial inquiry was taken at a meeting of top leaders of the ruling United Democratic Front held this morning. On Monday, the government had declared holiday on Tuesday and Wednesday for the employees of the secretariat.

Ruling out his resignation, Chandy said the government was ready to discuss the inquiry's terms of reference with the Opposition parties.LDF has been demanding Chandy's resignation besides seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the solar power scam. It began its indefinite strike by blocking the three gates of the secretariat complex from Monday. 

Vijayan said the agitation for the resignation of the chief minister would continue. “The front will boycott all official programmes of the chief minister,” he said.