CPM protecting goondas: BJP

The Kerala Police and the CPI(M), which was ruling it in the State Government, have taken Kerala to a dangerous condition by providing a situation conducive to the activities of goondas, the State BJP has alleged.

Inaugurating a meeting of the leadership of the State Mahila Yuva Morcha in Kochi on Wednesday, State BJP general secretary AN Radhakrishnan said that while the law-and-order situation had collapsed, Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan was remaining inactive. This could not be tolerated, he said.

The challenge being raised by the CPI(M), which was providing protection to goondas, mafias and murderers, had become extensive in Kerala, Radhakrishnan said. “The incident of the DYFI attack on the sub-inspector of Vadakkekkara police station in Ernakulam district and the collection of money to save the murder-accused in Idukki are just examples of this,” he said.

Radhakrishnan alleged that the CPI(M) had spent money to help goonda leader Om Prakash, 15th accused in the sensational Paul Muthoot murder case. He charged the CPI(M) with protecting Om Prakash for a long time.

“Such a situation, where the people had faced such insecurity, had never existed in Kerala. Top police officials have degenerated into the level of being the servants of the CPI(M), Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and his family. Peopl have lost faith in the Government. That the Chief Minister is still remaining inactive is generating doubts among the people,” Radhakrishnan said.

Meanwhile, K Muraleedharan, former president of State Congress and State NCP, who was on a bid to enter back into the Congress, said that the people of the State were now afraid of the Kerala Police. “The people of Kerala are also afraid that the police would never bring out the truth behind the Paul murder,” he said in Thiruvananthapuram.

Muraleedharan said that a reputed leader like State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan should not have adopted the method of antagonizing political opponents in the name of the murder case. “The CPI(M) leaders seem to be on a bid to sanctify goondas like Kodali Sreedharan. Why should Pinarayi do that?” asked Muraleedharan.

He charged the CPI(M) with engaging in a campaign to malign political opponents without any basis. Referring to the demand of CPI(M) central committee member EP Jayarajan that the police should probe Congress MP K Sudhakaran’s alleged relations with goondas, he said the CPI(M) should refrain from making such statements and instead ask the police ruled by their own party to initiate the investigation.