Solar panel scam: Demand for Kerala CM's resignation gathers momentum

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala continues to stage state-wide protest rallies over a demand for the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for his alleged role in a scam involving the manufacture and sale of solar panels.

The LDF has sought a judicial probe in the matter.

The United Democratic Front (UDF) headed by the Congress Party rules Kerala while the LDF is the main opposition in the state.

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

Opposition parties in the state have alleged that Chandy had vital role in this scam.

As part of the state-wide rallies, supporters of the LDF held demos outside the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

Speaking to the media, N K Premachandran, a leader of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) which is a constituent of the LDF, said that to escape from accountability in the irregularities, the ruling Congress party was shrewdly indulging in cosmetic cabinet changes to shield Chandy.

He claimed that the scam worth millions of rupees had duped thousands of investors.

The chief minister's office has come into the picture after it was revealed that three officials from the chief minister's secretariat made a number of calls to Nair, an accused in the fraud of supplying solar panels.

Consequently, the two officials from the secretariat were removed from their positions.