Achuthanandan, Vijayan

Jan. 28: Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan today said his government would abide by the Constitution in deciding whether to permit the CBI to prosecute party rival Pinarayi Vijayan in the Rs 375-crore Lavalin scam.

The statement defies the official CPM line that the case against Vijayan was “politically motivated” and comes amid reports that the politburo would meet soon to discuss the crisis in the faction-riven state unit.

“I am saying what a person is supposed to say as per the Constitution…. I have followed the Constitution in all matters and I will continue to do so,” Achuthanandan said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram today.

Quizzed what his course of action would be, he said his team was still examining the Lavalin case in the light of the CBI request for sanction to prosecute two officials and the matter would be disposed of duly.

But he ducked a query on whether the case was politically motivated. His refusal to defend Vijayan showed up in sharp contrast to home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s stand that the case had been “foisted” on the CPM state secretary.

The CPM had also issued a statement — after general secretary Prakash Karat earlier held talks with Achuthanandan in Delhi — saying the party “will take this issue to the people and expose the political gameplan behind this move”.

Achuthanandan’s comments gave the CPM a few uneasy moments today, but Karat denied he had offered to quit.

“The reports about the chief minister offering to step down are speculative. The party has already decided to fight the (Vijayan) issue politically,” Karat said in Delhi.

Sources said the party was, however, worried whether the chief minister would use the case to settle scores with Vijayan, thereby giving the Congress a chance to make political capital in Kerala.

It was also hoping the veteran leader “will not take any dangerous step” ahead of the general election, they added.

The CBI has accused Vijayan and other officials of entering into a criminal conspiracy with Canadian-based SNC Lavalin in 1996, bypassing government procedures and showing “ugly haste” in awarding it the contract for modernisation of three hydel plants in the state.

The main allegation against Vijayan — he was power minister then — is that he converted a non-binding MoU into a supply contract with Lavalin on the company’s offer to mobilise Rs 96 crore to set up the Malabar cancer centre. The centre got a paltry Rs 8.6 crore while Lavalin collected the entire contractual amount.

The comptroller and auditor-general had indicted the power department for the contract.

A more serious charge that Achuthanandan has made in his confidential note to the politburo is that Vijayan withheld crucial information when the cabinet was discussing the contract.