Sonia to visit Kerala

Congress President Sonia Gandhi will be visiting Kerala this month end amid raging controversy over solar panel scam and factionalism in the party-led government.
In her first visit to Kerala after the scam, Gandhi will take stock of the political situation on September 29 and 30.
She is expected to meet allies of the party-led alliance United Democratic Front like IUML, Kerala Congress (M), RSP (B), CMP, JSS, Kerala Congress (B) and Kerala Congress (J).
The meeting comes amid apprehensions among a section of Congressmen that the solar panel scam controversy surrounding Chief Minister Oommen Chandy may damage the party's electoral prospects in the state, where the Congress-led UDF had wrested 16 out of total 20 seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Opposition Left Democratic Front had called off its two-day long siege of the state secretariat last month after the government agreed for a judicial probe but vowed it would continue the agitation till Chandy resigned.
The scam pertains to cheating of scores of people by accused Biju Radhakrishnan and Saritha Nair, both under arrest, by offering clients solar energy solutions. They allegedly flaunted their clout with the CM's office to dupe unsuspecting clients of huge sums.