Extending support to Kerala Congress (M) vice chairman and Government Chief Whip P.C. George, former Speaker T.S. John has said that Finance Minister K.M. Mani should have resigned as soon as the police made him an accused in the first information report (FIR) prepared in connection with the bar licence bribery case.
Talking to reporters at Kallooppara on Friday, Mr. John, who was a member of the KC(M) panel to inquire into the bar licence scam, said that Mr. Mani should have followed the rich tradition of the party by stepping down as the Finance Minister.
He said Mr. Mani need not have resigned from the Cabinet simply on the basis of a bribery charge levelled against him. But, the police had named him as an accused in the FIR after conducting a preliminary investigation and in that context, Mr. Mani’s resignation could have averted many a bedlam over the issue, he said.
Cites precedence followed by former leaders
Says they returned to Cabinet with a clean image
