Did not get the desired support from certain quarters: Mani

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after State Finance Minister K M Mani resigned, he broke his silence and said that he did not get the desired support from certain quarters and there was a political conspiracy.

"In the first place an First Information Report need not have been registered against me. For some time there have been cries for my blood and at the time of need, I did not get the desired support from certain quarters," said Mani to reporters, here on Wednesday night.

But despite a volley of questions to elaborate the conspiracy angle, he shot back by saying, "you (media) can engage in investigative journalism and find for yourself," shot back Mani.

On Tuesday, 82 year old Mani after holding on for an year over an allegation of bribe, finally quit as a Minister, after he found it difficult to hold on, following the Kerala high court ruling that came on Monday which ordered to further probe the bar scam.

"There is nothing in the high court order that indicts me directly. But since being the law minister, I felt it was improper to continue and hence resigned."

"I have been a legislator since 1967 and a minister for 23 years and I lay down office as a happy person and the biggest joy has been the facilitation of free treatment to over 1.25 lakh poor patients through the Karunya Scheme, that I launched (in 2011)," said Mani.

Asked about the conspiracy angle and from whom was he expecting the support, the seasoned veteran politician said that, "I will not say that and anyone interested can find out for themselves. This particular episode was just one of the many bitter moments that he had to face in politics. I know that we, those in public life have to be prepared to face incidents like these and I have nothing to hide and everything is transparent as far as I am concerned," said Mani.