Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said that Governor P. Sathasivam summoning Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and State Police Chief Loknath Behera in connection with the political violence in the State capital is a matter of shame.
He was speaking after a day-long fast here on Sunday ‘seeking an end to the culture of political violence’ being practised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Mr. Chennithala said ‘internal equations’ within the CPI(M) must have had a role in the incident. He alleged that the State government had failed to curb violence and efforts were on to expand the ‘political culture of Kannur’ to the State capital. The government could not foresee trouble in an area that had witnessed violence for around a week.
There was no point in saying that the police had nabbed the culprits, he said. Mr. Chennithala claimed that the political parties ruling the State and the Centre were perpetrating violence. The Congress would organise a prayer meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, he added.
‘LDF link’
Meanwhile, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president M.M. Hassan, who inaugurated the fast in the morning, refuted the allegation made by CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan that Manikkuttan, accused of murdering RSS activist Rajesh in Thiruvananthapuram, was a Congress worker and the son of an Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) leader.
He said that Manikkuttan was the polling agent for the Left Democratic Front candidate at Kazhakuttam in the last Assembly elections. Mr. Balakrishnan could get the details from Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, who was the party candidate from there, and the local councillors, he added.
M.K. Raghavan, MP; M.K. Muneer, MLA, were present, among others.