Alappuzha (Kerala) | Leader of Opposition in the Kerala assembly V D Satheesan on Thursday termed as "pure lies" the claims of the CPI(M) leaders and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that KSU activists attacked state Health Minister Veena George a day ago in Kannur.
Satheesan claimed that based on the "lies", the CPI(M) unleashed widespread violence in the state against Congress workers and offices.
He said that the media, police, and the Railway Police are aware that not even one of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists came anywhere near George, and all of them were immediately surrounded and removed from the area by the officers present there.
The incident occurred at Kannur railway station on Wednesday afternoon when the minister arrived there to board the Vande Bharat express.
According to the CPI(M), five activists of KSU, the student wing of the Congress, attacked her.
The activists, waving black flags, who were protesting frequent incidents of alleged medical negligence in government hospitals in the state, were later arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
The FIR registered against them claimed that they attacked the minister's neck with a weapon and also restrained her gunman.
Referring to the FIR, Satheesan said that an attempt to murder case was lodged against the KSU activists based on the minister's "lies".
He also claimed that the entire false narrative was "concocted" after discussions with state assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, who was also present at the railway station, but on another platform and had not seen what happened.
The LoP claimed that Shamseer was also part of the conspiracy and contended that it did not befit the office he holds.
According to him, a preliminary investigation by the railway police did not find anything to substantiate the allegations against the KSU activists.
He also accused CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan of first spreading the lie that George's neck was twisted by the KSU activists.
"A case should be registered against Govindan for telling such a lie, which could result in a riot in the state. He is not fit to hold the post of CPI(M) state secretary," the opposition leader contended.
He said that the Congress will not be scared by the violence unleashed against it and its workers by the CPI(M) and it will move forward with its ongoing 'putha yuga' (new era) yatra.
George was first admitted to Kannur District General Hospital after she complained of neck pain and discomfort in her right hand and was later shifted to Pariyaram Government Medical College Hospital on Wednesday.