Thiruvananthapuram | The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala on Sunday said it was the alleged dissension within the opposition Congress in the state that was responsible for the present predicament of KPCC chief K Sudhakaran and not any conspiracy by the Left party or Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Sudhakaran was arrested by the Crime Branch of Kerala Police on Friday in a cheating case in which the prime accused is controversial antique dealer Monson Mavunkal. The KPCC chief was released on bail the same day.
Senior CPI(M) leader A K Balan, also a member of the Left party's central committee, claimed that neither the Left party nor Vijayan had any role in the Monson case.
He alleged it was Congressmen who lodged the complaint against the KPCC chief and that it was a youth congress leader who made a complaint to the vigilance department against the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan.
A major reason for the "deepening internal conflict" within the Congress was that each leader feels that he should be the next CM, Balan said in a statement.
He said the dissension within the grand old party was visible on the issue of appointment of block presidents and was also responsible for the case against the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president.
Balan contended that the recent developments in the cheating case, in which contoversial self styled antiques dealer Monson Mavunkal is the prime accused and Sudhakaran a co-accused, was the outcome of a plea by the complainants in the Kerala High Court that their complaint was not being taken seriously by the probe agency.
The CPI(M) leader also contended that all court orders in the AI camera issue, Priya Varghese appointment and the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of KTU have been in favor of the state government and the Chief Minister.
While the Congress has been making allegations against the ruling government on these issues, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan also had a role in fuelling the smear campaign against the Left administration on some of these matters, he claimed.
Balan said those who led such smear campaigns should apologize to the Chief Minister if they have any morals.
He said all false cases against the government have fallen apart and the High Court also gave a good blow to the media which had spread false propaganda.
He was referring to the recent High Court order asking the media to "adopt a code of responsible journalistic conduct" while reporting court cases as "unjustified comments and remarks", often based on the oral remarks made by a judge during hearing, could harm the dignity and reputation of a litigant.
The suggestion from the court came in view of the media attention received by the litigation related to the appointment of Priya Varghese, wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's private secretary, to the post of Malayalam associate professor in Kannur University.
