Canadian firm SNC Lavalin has left its footprint on the budget session of Kerala Assembly on Friday. The Rs 375-crore corruption scandal involving Lavalin and CPI(M) created such mele in Kerala Assembly that Governor RS Gavai had to leave the House cutting short his policy-announcement speech.

Within minutes of the Governor starting on his 48-page speech, the Congress-led Opposition was on its feet, forcing Gavai to conclude his address in under 10-odd minutes.

?My objection is not to the Governor, but to the CPI(M)-led LDF government, which is standing in the way of judiciary prosecuting the corrupt,? Opposition leader Ommen Chandy said.

The Opposition shouted slogans and raised banners asking Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan to take immediate action to prosecute CPI-M state unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. The 12-year-old graft case is also a major player in the tug of war between Pinarayi Vijayan faction and VS Achuthananthan faction within CPI(M).

During the first Governor?s address of VS Achuthanandan government in June 2006, the then-Governor had pitched his speech on the ?fight against corruption?, Chandy said. So the Achuthanandan fovernment is bound to take steps at the earliest to prosecute Vijayan.

Last month, CBI had written to the Kerala Governor asking for sanction to prosecute Vijayan. Gavai forwarded it to Achuthanandan government. A division headed by acting Chief Justice JB Koshy gave rulings on a bunch of petitions asking whether the state government?s permission is required to prosecute Vijayan. On Thursday, the Kerala High Court gave the state government three months to decide whether to give the nod to prosecute Vijayan.

Vijayan, CPI(M) Politburo member and party?s State chief, was Kerala electricity minister during mid-1990s?, when he led a team of officials to Montreal to wrap up a consultancy deal with SNC Lavalin.

The Rs 375-crore contract for modernising three hydro-electric projects, Panniyar, Pallivasal and Chengulam- had not yielded the demanded results.

Further, the deal was found grossly overpriced. After C&AG traced anomalies in the trade-of, CBI probe has found reasons to ask for Vijayan?s prosecution. CPI(M)?s official machinery, however, maintains that the move to frame Vijayan is only a pre-poll conspiracy using CBI.