Kerala woman MP alleges threat from CPI-M workers

Thiruvananthapuram: Ramya Haridas, the Congress MP from Kerala’s Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, has registered a complaint with the police, alleging threat to her life from the local CPI-M leaders.

Police has registered a case against former panchayat president MA Naser, incumbent panchayat member Najeeb and seven others on the basis of Ramya’s complaint.

The complaint said about eight persons, led by Naser waylaid the MP, while she was returning from a meeting with members of the local green movement and behaved in a manner that violated her modesty and threatened her she would be finished off.

The woman MP then staged a sit-in on the road and the place of the incident was near the local police station.

Ramya’s complaint seeks police protection for her as well as action against those responsible for the denial of her right to movement and obstruction of her public life.

The CPI-M workers are alleged to have reminded the Congress MP of the unofficial ban that they had declared for her presence in the town. They also allegedly described her programme with the green team as a ‘dog show’.

The CPI-M leaders are upset that Ramya Haridas won her Lok Sabha seat from Alathur, which is supposed to be a left bastion. The daughter of a daily wage earner, her campaign had attracted much attention as all her election meetings featured a song by her.

She was handpicked by Rahul Gandhi for the seat. Disparaging remarks by CPI-M leaders, particularly A Vijayaraghavan, who is now acting as the state secretary of the party, had helped Ramya work up a sympathy wave during the election.