Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 12: Demanding resignation of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the solar scam, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the Congress was setting a "shameless" standard of not accepting responsibility for "what is happening right under its nose."
Addressing a massive gathering of Left Democratic Front workers, who laid a siege in front of the Secretariat here, Karat said Chandy should step down from office if he had any accountability to people.
"Congress has set shameless standards to see that their leaders are not accountable for what is happening in their ministries and offices," he said.
While there were instances of Chief Ministers and Union Ministers resigning on moral grounds earlier, the party had now stooped to low levels to protect corruption.
The Congress-led government in Kerala had called the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to protect a Chief Minister, who was facing allegations of corruption. "They are supposed to protect the borders in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda said only an impartial probe by a judicial commission led by a High Court judge could come out with the truth on the solar scam and the Chief Minister should step down to make way for such a probe.
"The government cannot move ahead with an undeclared emergency all the time in view of the people's struggle. At least Chandy should step down to come out from the tangle," Gowda said.
CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy said Chandy could not escape moral and political responsibility in the solar scam.
Corruption scams sweeping the nation involving "mind-boggling amounts" were alarming, he said.
He said the Chief Minister should not try to cling to office "shamelessly" after his office assistants and personal staff were found to be involved in the solar scam.
"Only a judicial inquiry can come out with the truth," he said.
CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the workers assembled in front of the Secretariat.
