Alappuzha (Kerala) | Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday said the CPI(M) should stop its alleged attempts to defame and insult G Sudhakaran by staging protests against him wherever he goes, as he had been elected by the people.

Chennithala said the Congress and the UDF opposed the CPI(M)'s practice of showing black flags to Sudhakaran and protesting against him wherever he went, and urged the Left party to be more "tolerant".

He said the Congress and the UDF stood firmly behind Sudhakaran, a former CPI(M) leader who left the party following differences with its leadership.

The minister was responding to reporters' queries about Sudhakaran's recent remarks at an event, also attended by Chennithala, that some Congress leaders in Alappuzha had links with "criminals" in the CPI(M), and that the UDF would win all nine Assembly seats in the coastal district if such ties were severed.

Sudhakaran, who won the Ambalapuzha Assembly constituency in Alappuzha as an Independent with UDF support, had asked Chennithala why the police had not informed him about the protest planned against him.

He was referring to a CPI(M) protest staged against him at the Alappuzha municipality during a felicitation ceremony organised in his honour.

Chennithala told reporters that such a protest should not have taken place during the ceremony and described it as unacceptable.

At the same time, he said he was unaware of any alleged links between Congress leaders and CPI(M) members in Alappuzha, describing it as a "local" issue.