Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that K.M. Mani had resigned as Finance Minister on his own.
At a news conference shortly after receiving the resignation letters from Mr. Mani and Government Chief Whip Thomas Unniyadan here this evening, Mr. Chandy said the UDF stand from the beginning was that Mr. Mani had not committed any wrong. "We still stick to that stand," he said.
The Chief Minister said the leadership of neither the Congress Party nor the United Democratic Front (UDF) had sought Mr. Mani's resignation. The party high command was monitoring the situation in Kerala, but there was no direction that Mr. Mani should step down as reported by the media, he said.
Mr. Mani, he pointed out, was one of the longest serving members of the Kerala Assembly and a leader of the UDF for long. "We are confident that he would continue to offer full support as stated by him when announcing his resignation. We welcome his statement. We have full confidence that he would be able to return after proving his innocence," Mr. Chandy said.
Asked whether Mr. Mani should not have resigned earlier, Mr. Chandy pointed out that the judgment had come only yesterday and the copy of the judgment was received only late last night. How can a decision be taken without discussions within the party and alliance, he asked.
Mr. Chandy contested the media reports yesterday about the Kerala High Court judgment and said the actual contents of the judgment were totally at variance from what was reported by the visual media. The Court had actually granted all the pleas in the writ petition filed by the Vigilance Anti-Corruption Bureau, he said.
Mr. Chandy said there was no threat to his government. "We began with majority of two. We will continue without any problem," he said.
