TOI File photo

KOZHIKODE: Already shaken by growing incidence of crimes against women, the 10-month-old Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala suffered yet another blow when transport minister AK Saseendran, belonging to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), resigned on Sunday, hours after a local television channel aired an audio clip of the minister allegedly having a “lewd” conversation with an unidentified woman over phone.

Saseendran is the second minister to quit the Pinarayi Vijayan ministry. Earlier, E P Jayarajan of the CPM had to resign following allegations of nepotism in October 2016. Announcing his decision at a press conference here, the 71-year-old Saseendran, a five-time legislator and national working committee member of the NCP, denied the allegations and said he was ready to face a probe by any agency. He represents Elathur assembly constituency in north Kerala.

“The allegations against me are absolutely baseless. I don’t think there had been any such lapse on my part. However, I am resigning to uphold morality in politics which my party and the LDF have always strived to uphold. I have urged the CM to institute a thorough probe into the incident,” said Saseendran.

In the evening, CM Pinarayi Vijayan forwarded Saseendran’s resignation to the governor. The audio-clip was aired by a new channel, Mangalam TV, which started telecast on Sunday. The tape contains sexually explicit remarks by the minister though the woman’s voice has been muted. The channel has claimed that the minister had sought sexual favours from the woman who approached him for help.

Though Saseendran pleaded innocence, he tried to duck repeated questions from the media on whether the voice in the audio clip was his. Asked whether he had visited Goa as the audio-clip allegedly mentions, Saseendran said he had been to Goa for the recent assembly election campaign there.

Sources said Saseendran had no option but quit as the CM hinted that “he should do the right thing”. Talking to the media, Vijayan said the government viewed the matter “seriously”. Saseendran said the CM did not seek his resignation.

