The CBI’s indictment on Monday of two leaders of the CPI(M) for the murder of Muslim Students Federation worker Abdul Shukkoor has triggered a political war of words between the ruling front and the Opposition.

The development has also propelled back into public focus the upward spiral of inter-party violence in northern Kerala.

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan denounced the charge against P. Jayarajan, the party’s district secretary in Kannur, and T.V. Rajesh, MLA from Kalyassery, as politically motivated.

He accused the Congress and the BJP of having conspired to incriminate the leaders falsely. He alleged that the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had orchestrated the plot. However, the Kerala Police had found no evidence to incriminate them.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the CBI had dusted off old and discredited witness statements to entrap the CPI(M) leaders to blacken the image of the party in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala dismissed Mr. Balakrishnan’s protestations of innocence. He said the assassination of those opposed to the party was an integral instrument in the CPI(M)’s political tool kit.

TP’s murder

It also prompted a renewed demand for a probe to unmask those who plotted the murder of RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said a similar inquiry would expose the intriguers.