Protestors demand resignation of CM Oomen Chandy over solar panel scam

Members of the Left Democratic Youth Front here on Sunday staged a mass protest with black flags demanding the resignation of Kerala's Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for his suspected role in the solar panel scam.

Agitated protesters, under the banner of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) that functions as part of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) , waved black flags t.

Speaking to the mediapersons on the occasion Rajan, the Kerala President of All India Youth Federation, which is the youth wing of Communist Party of India, said that until the Chief Minister resigns from his post, the protest would continue and also intensify.

"The Left Democratic Youth Front has decided to boycott all official programmes of CM (Chief Minister). We think that we will continue this struggle until the CM resigns in Kerala that is our main motive," said Rajan.

The police restrained the protesting activists from waving black flags at the Chief Minister.

Interestingly, activists of the ruling Congress party too had gathered at this venue as they danced outside the airport terminal building to welcome Chandy on his return from Bahrain where he was conferred an award instituted by the UNESCO.

A couple of days back, Kerala police arrested Teny Joppan, former personnel assistant of Chief Minister at Konni for his role in the financial irregularities in the solar panels scam. This had prompted the opposition to demand the resignation of Chief Minister and also a judicial probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, the DYFI activists warned the government that that from Monday onwards the protests against Oommen Chandy will gather more momentum.

Chandy is allegedly involved in the solar panels fraud. The scam relates to a series of fraudulent solar panel installation deals offered by a firm owned Saritha Nair and her friend Biju Radhakrishnan and lured customers to invest money in their deceptive schemes.

The office of Chandy was embroiled in the scam when it was revealed that two officials from the Chief Minister's secretariat made a number of calls to Saritha Nair, an accused in the fraud.

Consequently, the two officials were removed from their positions.