Thomas Chandy quits as Kerala minister amid land grab charges

Photo: Facebook/Thomas Chandy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thomas Chandy on Wednesday resigned as the Kerala Transport Minister amid allegations of land grab.

He submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan through Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader TP Peethamabaran. "The resignation letter had been handed over. All the details will be told to you at 2 pm," Peethamabaran said. 

Earlier in the day, Vijayan had said that the final call on his resignation will be taken after knowing the position of its ally, NCP. "State NCP has sought time till their national leadership takes a call on the matter and in accordance with coalition principles, a decision will be taken after knowing their position," Vijayan said.

The NCP executive meet held on Tuesday had discussed the matter and decided to inform the national leadership about its decision on the issue.

Dismissing the criticism that he was giving undue time to Chandy to take a decision on the matter, the Chief Minister said it is only part of coalition propriety that he was being given time to take a stand on the matter.

The CPI leadership in the state had been seeking Chandy's resignation in the wake of allegations of encroachment by his Lake Palace resort at Kuttanad in Alappuzha district.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday made strong observations against him and dismissed his petition challenging Alappuzha district collector's report which had found largescale violation of land rules by his resort.