Shanimol Usman, AICC secretary and former Kerala president of the Women’s Congress, has asked the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee to appoint a party commission to probe the alleged relationship between Union Minister KC Venugopal and con-woman Saritha S Nair, the chief perpetrator of the infamous solar scam.
Shanimol raised the demand at a crucial meeting of the KPCC executive held in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to analyze the details of the polling held on April 10 in the State for lok Sabha elections amidst reports that the relationship with Saritha could affect the winning possibilities of Venugopal as Congress candidate in Alappuzha.
According to sources, the Women’s Congress leader told the PCC executive that it was impossible for her to face the electorate to seek votes for Venugopal because of the allegations of his alleged illicit relationship with the con woman. She said Venugopal’s image had taken a beating in the Alappuzha constituency because of the allegation.
Pointing out that the CPI(M) had appointed party commissions to probe the charge of immoral behavior against its senior leaders P Sasi and Gopi Kottamurikkal and had taken action against them on the basis of those commissions’ reports, Shanimol said such a step was necessary to bring out the truth of the charge against Venugopal.
Shanimol resorted to attacking Venugopal during the open discussion at the meeting while replying to a charge made in the report to the leadership of the Alappuzha District Congress Committee that she, who was an aspirant for ticket for the Alappuzha seat, was inactive in the campaign and had tried to ensure the defeat of the Minister.
The charge that Venugopal was one of the political heavyweights who had “used” Saritha was first made by Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of the mighty SNDP Yogam, outfit of lower caste Hindu Ezhavas, after the con woman declined to submit in a court a 23-page statement she had prepared on those who had “used” her physically.
Vellappally said this statement had contained Venugopal’s name. Venugopal had threatened to sue Vellappally for the allegation. After some time, Biju Radhakrishnan, Saritha’s former live-in partner and co-perpetrator of the solar scam, leveled the same allegation against Venugopal but Saritha said, “I haven’t entrusted Biju with the task of arguing my case.”
Biju had said that apart from Venugopal, Kerala Tourism Minister AP Anilkumar of the Congress and former Forest minister KB Ganesh Kumar had “used” Saritha, who was accused of duping several people of crores of rupees by promising to install solar power projects using her alleged proximity to the office of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
Shanimol’s demand has come amidst reports from Alappuzha that Venugopal may lose the seat which he had won by a margin of 57,635 votes in the 2009 election primarily because of his alleged links with Saritha. “Her demand is genuine and reasonable though I don’t know what prompted her to make it,” said a senior member of the KPCC executive.
Meanwhile, the judicial commission led by retired judge G Sivarajan, appointed to probe the solar scam, has reportedly requested the State Government to give it more time to complete the inquiry amidst the allegation that the Government has not clearly defined its terms of reference. The commission’s normal six-month tenure is to end on April 28.
In the absence of clear terms of reference, the commission is said to be in a state of confusion as nobody has approached it with a complaint in the past six months. The Opposition lDF had refused to cooperate with the processes because of the CM’s alleged refusal to include his office in the terms of reference.