Congress, CPI-M spar over SFI student's murder in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 12 A war of words gas started between the Congress and the CPI-M in Kerala over the brutal murder of an engineering student at a state run educational institution in Idukki.

State Congress chief K. Sudhakaran, who hails from Kannur, is known for his razor sharp tongue and also known for his strong positions he takes against the CPI-M especially Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The first reaction from Sudhakaran after hearing of the murder of the SFI student was it could be the fallout between the CPI-M faction war at Idukki between senior party legislator M.M. Mani and former party legislator S. Rajendran.

This irked the CPI-M leadership and out came all the leaders slamming Sudhakaran and State CPI-M secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said ever since Sudhakaran took over as president, the criminal tendencies of the party has increased and the murder of the SFI student cannot be ruled out.

And expressing their ire against Sudhakaran was large scale attack on flag posts of the Congress party, offices and residences of Congress workers when the body of the SFI student was taken on Tuesday evening from Idukki to his residence in Kannur district.

On Wednesday, expressing his ire Sudhakaran said the CPI-M is 'celebrating' the martyrdom of the SFI student.

"Within an hour of hearing the death of the student, the CPI-M announced they will build a memorial in the student's name near his house and said it will come up in an 8 cent of land. This martyrdom was being celebrated as a bus full of goons which was accompanying the body unleashed violence with the police giving them all the support. When the vehicle carrying the dead body was going to his house, senior CPI-M politburo member M.A. Baby was watching a big dance programme organised by the capital district unit of the CPI-M. It has now come to a stage when the party celebrates martyrdom," said Sudhakaran.

What has irked the CPI-M is the response which came soon after the murder from the Idukki SP of Police who said that it was not a political murder.

A.V. Varghese, the new Idukki district CPI-M secretary expressed his displeasure and said there are officials above the post of SP of Police.

Reacting to it was the All India president of the youth wing of the CPI-M A.A. Rahim who said Sudhakaran's words sound like that he is behaving like the head of a terrorist organisation.

"His tone and tenor has crossed all limits and it's high time that he is put in chains and is there none in the Congress party to do it," asked Rahim.

Sudhakaran's predecessor Mullapally Ramachandran on Wednesday visited the Congress office in Kannur district which came under attack from the CPI-M activists.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor