Sudhakaran says he was unaware of flight protest

Thiruvananthapuram: The Youth Congress protest against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan onboard a Kannur-Thiruvananthapuram flight on Monday was not with the knowledge of the leadership of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), its president K Sudhakaran said on Wednesday, but added the party will not disown the protest.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan said with LDF convener E P Jayarajan going back from his statement that the activists were drunk, the government should withdraw the attempt to murder charges slapped on the two Youth Congress leaders.
Both the leaders came down heavily against the government for not acting on the complaints raised against Jayarajan for attacking the Youth Congress activists inside the flight.
The KPCC president criticized the attacks on Congress offices and said the party workers will retaliate if the attacks continue. They cannot remain as mute spectators if the attacks against the offices and the houses of party leaders continue, he said, and slammed the government for not taking any action even after an attempt was made to attack the opposition leader’s house.
The opposition leader said that the police have informed him that the Cantonment House---his official residence---was not a high security zone. That was the reason why the three DYFI workers were let off on station bail, he said. “A house break is a criminal offence and people can be arrested for it. But the police are saying that it is not a criminal offence. The police are playing to the tunes set by chief minister’s office,” said Satheesan.
The CPM and the DYFI have been trying to divert people’s attention from the protests launched by the UDF against the chief minister who is facing severe charges in the gold smuggling case, he said. “They are trying to create martyrs from the violence sparked by themselves to divert attention from the charges levelled against the chief minister,” he said.