Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has accused a caucus within the Chief Minister’s office of orchestrating former Kannur district panchayat president P.P. Divya’s release on bail in connection with the death of ADM K. Naveen Babu.
Speaking to the media in Chelakkara on Friday, Mr. Satheesan alleged that the Kannur Collector changed his statement after meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
“The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] took action against Ms. Divya only due to political pressure linked to the byelections, ” Mr. Satheesan said. He accused the CPI(M) of manipulating the case to discredit Naveen’s family and mislead the public by falsely branding him as corrupt to justify Ms. Divya’s release.
The Opposition Leader also raised questions about the Collector’s conduct, pointing out that the officer smiled while Ms. Divya made serious allegations against the ADM. “What action has the Revenue department taken against the Collector?” he asked.
He said the government was trying to divert the attention from its own failures by raising irrelevant issues and cited the ‘CPI(M)-orchestrated’ midnight raid in Palakkad. However, the controversial “blue box” incident had backfired, turning into a liability for the CPI(M) itself. Even CPI(M) leader Krishnadas reportedly spoke out against the drama, Mr. Satheesan pointed out.
Mr. Satheesan stressed that there is a growing public outrage over both the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) communal agenda and the Pinarayi government’s mismanagement, which, he said, has been a key point of the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) election campaign.
“The alliance between the BJP and the CPI(M) has become a significant issue in this election,” he said, accusing the Pinarayi government of shielding BJP leaders like K. Surendran from corruption investigations, including the Kodakara money laundering case and the Manjeswaram scam.
“When Mr. Surendran contested elections in Wayanad, Mr. Vijayan conveniently avoided mentioning the ₹41 crore hawala scam, choosing instead to attack Rahul Gandhi,” Mr. Satheesan added, calling it yet another example of the government’s double standards.
Published - November 08, 2024 08:41 pm IST
