Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s Congress unit continued to be in turmoil for the fourth day running, over the manner in which the Valapattanam police took into custody a Youth Congress worker along with two men allegedly involved in sand smuggling. The incident has pulled Congress leader K Sudhakaran MP and his party colleague and state home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan into an open face-off.
In the latest development, Youth Congress leader M Liju has taken sides with Sudhakaran, stating that the Congress could not approve of the “undressing culture” of the Kannur police. He was referring to the fact that two the men taken into custody were made to stand in underwear in the police lock-up.
A quick police report on the incident was completed today, and early reports indicate that it absolves the local policemen, and that the sub-inspector had taken guidance from senior officials in the matter before acting.
Sudhakaran had remarked that there was “no difference between Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s police and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan’s police” as far as Congress workers were concerned, and that the police were foisting false cases against his party workers. Thiruvanchoor retorted to that today, saying there was no “Thiruvanchoor police, and what existed was “Kerala police which reacted to wrong doing and took action according to what the law prescribed”. He dismissed as a joke the posters that came up in Kannur saying he would not be allowed to step foot in Kannur.
Another Congress leader, K Muraleedharan was also critical of Sudhakaran’s outburst at the police station. He said there was nothing wrong in the MP going to the station, but added that he should not have screamed at the police officials. Muraleedharan also suggested an immediate convening of a meeting of United Democratic Front MLAs to hear out their complaints, adding that meetings of UDF leaders alone would not suffice.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Sunday asked the media to see that they act in a more responsible manner, especially when they report news that could turn controversial.
He advised the media to take into account all versions. The chief minister made a statement following a TV channel news report that claimed that two members of the chief minister’s staff were transferred, after it was found that they were involved in corrupt dealings which were captured on a close-circuit TV camera within the state secretariat.
“The report was totally wrong, the transfer was part of routine procedure. One of the members of my personal staff was a chronic latecomer, and he had been warned against dereliction of duty. He continued his late-coming despite repeated warnings, and he was transferred. The other person that the report spoke of was not a staff member, and had worked in the computer cell of the general administration department. His was a routine transfer,” the chief minister clarified at a press conference on Sunday.
“Since there was no complaint about the transfers, it would be a waste of time to examine the visuals. But if any of you wishes to examine the visuals to unearth wrongdoing, please come along. We will sit to together and watch what the camera captured,” the chief minister said, as the media listened, baffled.
With inputs from IANS
