Kerala Home minister goes on leave after Congress seeks probe in letter case

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after state Congress sought probe into the source of the controversial letter purportedly written by Ramesh Chennithala, the Kerala Home Minister has cancelled all official programmes till December 28 as he will be leaving on a foreign tour.

Power Minister Arayadan Muhammed will be in charge of the Home Ministry in his absence, an official release said here today.

Chennithala will be leaving for the US along with senior Congress leader and CWC member A K Antony, sources said.

Congress state unit had yesterday instructed the party-led government to initiate a probe into the source of the letter allegedly written by Chennithala to party high command.

The content of the letter targeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for the poor performance of UDF in the recent civic polls had triggered a row after it was reported in the media.

The state Home Minister had however maintained that he had not sent such a letter and it was a concocted one.