Kerala HM goes on leave after Cong seeks probe in letter case

A day after state Congress sought probe into the source of the controversial letter purportedly written by Ramesh Chennithala, the Kerala Home Minister has cancelled all official programmes till December 28 as he will be leaving on a foreign tour.
Power Minister Arayadan Muhammed will be in charge of the Home Ministry in his absence, an official release said here today.
Chennithala will be leaving for the US along with senior Congress leader and CWC member A K Antony, sources said.
Congress state unit had yesterday instructed the party-led government to initiate a probe into the source of the letter allegedly written by Chennithala to party high command.

The content of the letter targeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for the poor performance of UDF in the recent civic polls had triggered a row after it was reported in the media.
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On the stray dog menace in the state, Chennithala claimed government did not have a clear cut policy on the matter.
"First they said that violent dogs would be killed by injecting poison. But, later the government said it prefers sterilisation," he said.
"When government is wavering on the matter, more and more cases of dog bites are reported from different parts of the state," he said and wanted stern action to check the menace.

Referring to the recent agreement between government and private medical college managements on admission and fees of students, Chennithala alleged that government had virtually sided with the management to "loot" the students.
"Fees structure in Kerala is much higher than in any other state in the country," he claimed.