The demand for the resignation of Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel appeared to grow shriller for the second day on Saturday.
Several persons were injured when Congress, BJP and IUML workers clashed with the police in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. In some places, the Youth Congress and Youth League workers also joined the protest.
The demonstrators said Mr. Jaleel had lost the moral right to continue in office .after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned him on Friday on suspicion of obtaining "foreign aid and gifts" from the UAE illegally. They burned the Minister’s effigy at protest locations.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the government should resign. Overlapping investigations by three Central law enforcement agencies had reached the doorstep of the ruling front.
Mr. Jaleel; Binish Kodiyeri, son of CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan; and former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan M. Sivasankar were under a cloud of suspicion. The LDF has brought notoriety on itself and the State.
BJP State president K. Surendran alleged Mr. Vijayan and Mr. Jaleel were accomplices in several underhand dealings involving foreign potentates and their representatives.
Mr. Vijayan could ill afford to forsake Mr. Jaleel. He said the Minister had violated the Foreign Contribution Regulation (Act) by accepting illegal contributions from abroad. He also accused him of helping the accused in the UAE consulate linked gold smuggling case.
Meanwhile, persons close to Mr. Jaleel's office said the Minister had reportedly told the ED that he had not accepted any foreign aid. He had interacted with the UAE consulate and its officials in his capacity as Minister for Minority Welfare and Waqf.
He had received parcels of Koran and food packets to distribute to needy families during Ramzan. The Koran packets remained undistributed and intact. He had no illegitimate wealth, nor had he broken protocol. He had not broken any law.