Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Debate has set stage for probe, says Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala has said that the public debate on the lottery issue between Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Congress MLA V.D. Satheesan has set the stage for a judicial probe into the irregularities and proliferation of illegal lottery trade.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Chennithala said the Finance Minister should be prepared to quit office on his own. If he failed to do so, the Chief Minister, who had led a strong campaign against the illegal lottery trade when he was the Opposition leader, should dismiss him.

The Finance Minister, who had challenged UDF leaders for a debate, had miserably failed to convince the people of his contentions on the lottery controversy. The debate had conclusively proved that the Finance Minister's contentions were baseless, Mr. Chennithala said.

The Finance Minister, who has been isolated in the LDF and the State Cabinet, made a valiant effort to put the blame on the Centre rather than owning up the State government's lapses, he said. He wanted the Chief Minister to order a judicial probe into the issue with Mr. Thomas out of office.

Mr. Chennithala said the UDF did not have any objection to bringing the decisions taken during its rule within the terms of reference of the judicial probe.

With regard to the Malappuram hooch tragedy, Mr. Chennithala alleged that an unholy nexus between the CPI(M), Excise officials and the liquor lobby had resulted in the tragedy. Mr. Chennithala defended A. Achuthan, MLA, who had been put under the spotlight for the toddy supply in Malappuram. Responding to the Excise Commissioner's allegation that Mr. Achuthan had interfered in an excise raid, the KPCC president said there was nothing wrong in an MLA intervening in an issue.

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