Bar Bribe: CPM, BJP Now Demand Chandy’s Resignation

24 January, Malappuram

After the resignation of Excise Minister K Babu, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), heading the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala today demanded resignations of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in connection with the controversial liquor bar graft case.

Talking to reporters at Malappuram, party politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, heading Nava Kerala Yatra launched by his party ahead of mid-May assembly poll in the state, said Chennithala at the helm of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption bureau should quit office following adverse remarks against the department by court.

Chandy too has no right to continue in office as the alleged graft accepted by Babu might have been shared by all.

Talking to reporters in Kozhikode, BJP state President Kummanam Rajasekharan, heading his party’s Vimochana Yatra across the state, said Chief Minister Chandy and Home Minister should quit office in the wake of court observation in the case.

He also demanded a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation into the May 4, 2012 murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan.

A CBI probe into the conspiracy angle of the murder is necessary as people wanted to know the truth in the case.

Babu tendered his resignation yesterday following Thrissur Vigilance Court direction to frame charge against him on allegation of Kerala Bar Hotels Association President Biju Ramesh that the former accepted graft to renew liquor bar licenses.

The court which ordered framing of FIR against Biju Ramesh too, directed to submit probe report in a month.