Left parties take to streets for Chandy's resignation

Thiruvananthapuram: Protests were staged in Kerala by the youth wing of the opposition Left parties and the BJP on Friday to demand Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's resignation following fresh claims before the solar scam commission that he was bribed.

The disclosure was first made by the second accused in solar scam case, Saritha Nair, on Wednesday that she paid bribe to Chandy.

In the state capital, the youth activists of the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party marched to the state secretariat. They also pelted stoned at police, prompting the constabulary to use water cannons and tear gas shells and cane charge at the protestors.

There were similar reports from Kozhikode, Kochi and Pathanamthitta where protestors and police clashed.

To cool down things, Chandy decided to remain in his official residence here, where he met top police officials and his cabinet colleagues.

Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPI-M politburo member who is on his state wide yathra, told reporters at Palakkad that the only way out to end the crisis is the chief minister's resignation.

Meanwhile, top leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League, the second biggest ally of the Congress in the ruling United Democratic Front met at Malappuram and decided to back Chandy.

"We see this as nothing but a politically motivated protest," said Panakkad Hyder Ali Sihab Thangal, the supreme leader of the IUML, to reporters.

Former state finance minister K.M. Mani, who had to resign last year over the bar scam case, said initiating a mere FIR does not mean anything.