Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday got partial relief in the solar scam scam case as the High Court said allegations of sexual exploitation against him need not be taken into account.

The court’s direction came while hearing Chandy’s petition over the solar scam Commission report. It said findings of the commission based on the letter of accused Saritha Nair which alleges sexual exploitation need not be considered.

However, the court failed to stay the ongoing probe based on the Commission report, which was also another demand of Chandy.

Chandy, approached the court demanding the one member Justice (retired) Sivarajan Commission be stayed as it had gone beyond its brief, and the letter of Saritha was never part of the Commission’s terms of reference. Hence, the probe that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ordered based on the letter should not take place.

The multi-crore solar energy investment fraud that rocked the Chandy government in 2013 was led by Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan, as it came to light that a section of the Chief Minister’s office had links with the couple.

The sleaze letter written by Nair when she was in jail names Chandy and numerous other top Congress leaders of sexually exploiting her.

Following the huge public outcry led by the then Left opposition, Chandy in 2014 announced that the Sivarajan Commission will probe the case.

With the change of government in 2016, the report was submitted last year to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Last year, on October 11, Vijayan told the media the judicial report had been accepted, adding that cases would be registered against Chandy and others based on Nair’s letter that claimed she was sexually exploited.

Later, the former Kerala Chief Minister approached the high court and brought in senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal as his counsel.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the manner in which Vijayan tried to finish off political rivals based on a ‘letter’ has fallen flat and the very basis of the Commission report also has lost its credibility.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the Congress would have done much better in the Karnataka Assembly election if it had allied with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

Banerjee did not name the BJP but congratulated the “winners”.

“Congratulations to the winners of the Karnataka elections. For those who lost, fight back. If Congress had gone into an alliance with the JD-S, the result would have been different. Very different,” she tweeted.

A Congress leader on Tuesday lamented that the party failed to plan for the Karnataka Assembly election and educate the people about the government’s welfare schemes.

“The party and its leaders, both in Bengaluru and Delhi, should have woken up much earlier and planned much better for the election to educate the people of the state about the Congress government’s welfare schemes,” Congress state unit Vice President B.K. Chandrashekar told IANS here.

“The good economic policies of the government weren’t communicated effectively to the people of Karnataka.”

Chandrashekar said the party’s set-up was a reason for its defeat in the state election that took place on Saturday. The votes were counted on Tuesday.

“We should have strategized at least two-three years ahead of the elections by setting up a think tank in order to counter (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s charm,” Chandrashekar said.

“The Congress failed in communicating to the people of the state that the politics of communalism and nationalism of the BJP must be rejected.” The Congress now needs a structural reconstruction, he added.

Reacting philosophically to the Congress defeat in Karnataka, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday invoked Shakespeare to describe the electoral debacle.

The National Conference leader wrote on his widely followed Twitter page: “Et tu Karnataka.”

Similar words were uttered by Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s sublime tragedy when Caesar’s best friend Brutus stabbed him. The BJP was set to oust the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly vote count.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on Tuesday trailing in both the constituencies where he contested, officials said.

The Congress leader was way behind G.T Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular in Chamundeshwari by over 13,000 votes, Election Commission officials said.

And after leading initially, Siddaramaiah fell behind B.R. Sriramulu of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Badami constituency by 428 seats.

N Mahesh,state president of the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) opened the party’s account in the state by emerging victorious from the Kollegal reserve constituency in Chamarajnagar district today.He had unsuccessfully contested from the same constituency during the previous 2013 Assembly elections.

It may be recalled here that the BSP had entered into an pre poll alliance with the Janata Dal Secular and as a result of such an understanding BSP was allotted 20 seats to contest. Kollegal was one such constituency where N Mallesh came second during the previous general elections.

N Mahesh defeated AR Krishnamurthy of the Congress to register the maiden victory for his party in the backward district bordering Tamil Nadu.He polled 31,362 votes garnering a vote share of 40.62 percent while his nearest rival AR Krishnamurthy bagged 24,764 votes and 32.07 share of votes polled. BN Nanjundaswamy of the BJP came third by getting 18,631 votes and 24.13 percent of votes polled.

During 2013 polls N Mahesh had got 37,209 votes and 25.40 vote share while S Jayanna,the winning Congress candidate had bagged 47,402 votes and 32.36 vote share.In fact last time the KJP of BS Yeddyurappa had played spoil sport as its candidate Balaraj S garnered 32,578 votes while GN Nanjundaswamy of the BJP had to be content with 17,089 votes.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

The BJP’s victory march in Karnataka with leads in 114 Assembly constituencies is because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s extensive election campaign, party MP from the state Shobha Karandlaje said on Tuesday.

“The mandate is clearly against the divisive politics of the Congress and arrogance of Siddaramaiah. The victory belongs to the extensive campaign by Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah and our Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa,” Karandlaje said here.

The BJP was on Tuesday set to return to power in its southern bastion Karnataka as its candidates crossed the half-way mark in vote count, stunning and ousting the ruling Congress and leaving the JD-S at the third spot.

Noisy celebrations broke out in party offices in Bengaluru, New Delhi and across Karnataka as Bharatiya Janata Party nominees were on the victory lap in 118 of the 222 constituencies which voted on Saturday.

This was a dramatic jump from the 40 seats the BJP won five years ago.

The Congress, desperate to retain power in the state amid shrinking appeal nationally, suffered major blows and was ahead only in 62 seats, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah trailing in both the constituencies he contested: Badami and Chamundeshwari.

The Congress leader was way behind G.T Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular in Chamundeshwari, Election Commission officials said. And after leading initially, Siddaramaiah fell behind B.R. Sriramulu of the BJP in Badami.

In contrast, the BJP’s Chief Ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa was ahead of his Congress rival by more than 11,000 votes in Shikaripura.

Energy Minister and Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar said that the numbers indicated that his party was on the way out after five years in power.

Any party or grouping will need 113 of the total 224 seats to secure a majority in the Assembly. Polling did not take place in two constituencies on Saturday.

The BJP was overjoyed. “We are in a jubilant mood because we have crossed the half-way mark. We are confident of winning,” spokesman S. Shantharam told IANS.

BJP activists and leaders celebrated noisily in both Bengaluru and New Delhi, waving party flags and shouting slogans hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their main vote-getter, and party President Amit Shah.

There were also celebrations outside the residence of Yeddyurappa, who has been Chief Minister earlier too.

The Janata Dal-Secular of former Prime Minister H.D. Dewe Gowda, which has been expected to play the role of a kingmaker in the event of a hung Assembly, was leading in 40 seats — the same number it won five years ago.

As the vote count progressed, BJP leaders became assertive, saying they were confident of taking power again in Karnataka while Congress leaders began to speak about the possibility of an alliance with the JD-S.

BJP leader and Union Minister Sadanand Gowda said that there was no question of any alliance.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar, who is in charge of Karnataka, met BJP President Amit Shah in New Delhi.

Analysts said the BJP was leading in Lingayat dominated seats and the JD-S in Vokkaliga dominated areas.

Expectations of a BJP victory in Karnataka lifted the key Indian equity indices during the mid-morning trade session on Tuesday.

According to market observers, broadly subdued Asian indices and disappointing macro-economic inflation data points released on Monday capped some gains.

Sector-wise, healthy buying was witnessed in banking, capital goods, metals, consumer durables and automobile stocks.

The Sensex has so far touched a high of 35,993.53 points and a low of 35,498.83 points during the intra-day trade.

Ulla constituency Congress leader U T Khader seemed confident of his win and also of Congress winning all the eight constituencies in Dakshina Kannada.

Addressing the press, at Eden Club on Monday, May 14 he said, “I am sure that Congress will win all the 8 constituencies in Dakshina Kannada. I am confident of my victory. Congress will form the government in state and there is no confusion over the chief minister’s post. The Congress high command will take the decision.”

He lauded the EC’s hard work for making sure the elections go smoothly. “I appreciate the Election Commission’s work on the day of election. I am thankful to all officers, staff and police for their service.”

“Meanwhile, I thank all the voters and people of the district. They showed their maturity and maintain the spirit of democracy on the day of election,” he said.

Referring to the malfunctioning EVMs in the district he said, “The Election Commission should be careful in the elections in future. Many voters did not receive voters’ slip this time. The Booth Level Officers (BLO) failed to distribute it to voters on time. Many BLOs issued the slips to local political leaders. It is said that they had distributed the voters slip only to their respective party members and followers.

Meanwhile it is also said that door numbers were not mentioned in the voters’ slip. Hence, the BLOs faced difficulties to distribute it to voters.”

“It is said that many officers allowed people to vote without any ID proofs. They allowed voters’ to vote on the basis of voters’ slip. This will lead to duplicate voting. So, the next time, Election Commission should rectify these issues. I will write a letter to them regarding this,” he added.

“In my last tenure, I handed two departments. I sincerely worked for the people of the state. Both the departments secured national awards and I am satisfied with my work as a minister of Health and Food and Civil Supplies,” he said.

Congress leaders Imithiyaz, Prashanth and others were also present at the meet.

PTI