Kerala Transport Minister Thomas Chandy on Saturday told media that he will not resign over allegations of land encroachment against him, which are silly and baseless.
Chandy was speaking at a press meet in Kochi, a day after the revenue department ordered an enquiry into the allegations that he encroached upon land belonging to the Mathur Devaswom in Alappuzha district.
Earlier also, there were allegations that Chandy had encroached on government land as well as filled some part of the lake near his resort in Alappuzha.
The minister is also facing allegations over the attack on Asianet TV channel’s Alappuzha bureau.
He said in the press meet that he had neither encroached on government land nor the lake. He also alleged a conspiracy behind these allegations.
He said that the district collector filed a report against him without hearing his arguments.
Meanwhile, Kerala Congress on Saturday asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to oust Thomas Chandy from the cabinet after a preliminary report in the land usurpment case.
"All the defence put up by Chandy about the allegation levelled against him for usurpment of land has fallen flat with the preliminary report of the collector indicating that land has been usurped," state Congress President MM Hassan told media.
"The preliminary report reveals that Chandy has violated the law and has misused his powers and hence he has to go, if not the Chief Minister has to boot him out," Hassan said.
The district collector had conducted a preliminary probe using satellite images of the resort area of Chandy prior to the construction with the present images and has submitted a preliminary report to the government.
On questions posed by media persons regarding the illegality of his resort, Chandy maintained silence.
According to reports, Mathur Devaswom had handed over a complaint of the encroachment to Alappuzha District Collector TV Anupama.
On Wednesday, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had sought legal advice on the complaint.
The complaint was filed by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala.
(With IANS inputs)