Thiruvananthapuram: Slamming the ruling Congress-led UDF for allegedly going soft on the BJP and its outfits, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan Tuesday described Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as a "member of the BJP".
"The Chief Minister is not only a Congress leader, but also a member of the BJP," the Marxist veteran said in the state Assembly.
Listing out the instances of Chandy "warming up" to the Sangh parivar, Achuthanandan said the government's recent decision to withdraw a case against VHP's firebrand leader Praveen Togadia and to hand over the prestigious Rs 7,000 crore Vizhinjam project to Gujarat based Adani group, which is alleged to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shows the "unholy link" between the two parties.
Chandy was in the Assemnly when Achuthanandan read out his written speech in which he described the Chief Minister "as a BJP member".
The House was discussing the brutal killing of a boy, affected by endosulphan, allegedly by an RSS worker, when the opposition levelled the charge against the UDF.
The LDF stalled proceedings for a brief while and walked out over the issue, stating that the murder, which took place in Kasaragod district last week, was to take revenge as the boy's father was a CPI(M) worker.
Senior CPI(M) leader E P Jayarajan, who sought permission to move an adjournment motion on the issue, said local police was trying to help the murderer by stating that he was mentally deranged.
"BJP and Sangh Parivar activists have been going scot free in the state for some time despite their henious acts. They even butcher children to take revenge on their political rivals," he alleged.
Describing the murder of the boy in front of his sister as "shocking", Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said he was deeply saddened over the incident.
The government had no agenda to save the accused, who has been arrested and all steps would be taken to ensure that guilty is booked, he said.
Taking the Minister's reply into consideration, Speaker N Sakthan denied permission to move the motion, prompting the Opposition to stage a walkout.
