BJP attacks CPI(M), Cong; demands time-bound probe into solar scam in Kerala

New Delhi: Eyeing a bigger political space in Kerala, the BJP on Friday attacked the CPI(M) and Congress, two major forces there, over issues of violence and corruption respectively, and sought a time-bound and fair probe into an alleged Solar scam in the southern state.

Citing former chief minister Oommen Chandy's indictment in the alleged scam by an inquiry commission, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that no corruption allegation had been levelled against the current government at the Centre during its three-year rule so far, but cases of the Congress' corruption continued to appear.

"Taking measures against corruption has never been part of the Congress' DNA. Its DNA reeks of corruption," he told reporters.

Attacking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi, Prasad said former prime minister Manmohan Singh had often been attacked, but these two top leaders of the party should clarify if they had done anything against corruption.

He demanded a time-bound, fair and proper probe by the vigilance department into the alleged Solar scam in Kerala.

The Kerala government has ordered a vigilance probe into the alleged scam after the inquiry commission submitted its report, indicting Chandy and other Congress leaders.

Prasad also attacked the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala over the killings of BJP-RSS workers in the state and alleged that the Left party believed in containing its rivals through violence.

The lotus, the poll symbol of the BJP, had a right to bloom in Kerala and the people of the state should be allowed to decide its fate, the law minister said, while claiming that the saffron party's 15-day march in the southern state against the violence on its workers had received a good response.

The BJP has accused the CPI(M) of indulging in "political murders" in Kerala.

To a question on Sitaram Yechury's assertion that the BJP had picked the issue of political violence in Kerala as a diversionary tactic to shift the focus from the country's economy, Prasad referred to the "personal rivalry" between the CPI (M) general secretary and his predecessor, Prakash Karat, and how the former's Rajya Sabha bid was "scuttled".

He also suggested that Yechury himself was not comfortable with the situation in Kerala.

Indian economy, Prasad claimed, was thriving.