LDF in Kerala alleges misuse of vigilance, police

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI-M led LDF opposition members in Kerala on Tuesday staged a walkout in the Assembly protesting the Speaker`s refusal to allow a debate on an adjournment motion on alleged misuse of vigilance and police by government to "implicate" political opponents in false cases.

Replying to a notice for the motion, both Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan denied the charge and said the government was only implementing the law and justice. Radhakrishnan justified the government`s decision to go in for an appeal against the High Court single bench order quashing the FIR against Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan in a land gift case as government was of the view that single bench order was `extra ordinary`. Seeking leave for the motion, former Home Minister and CPI-M politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan charged the government with abuse of vigilance and police to silence their leaders and the case against Achuthanandan was a best example for it. Balakrishnan also brought to the notice the High Court single bench`s observation against the government while quashing the FIR against Achuthanandan in the case. He wanted the `political hostility` attitude of the government towards opposition to be corrected and said the High Court observation should open the eyes of the government. However, Balakrishnan said opposition would resist the government move to "trap" its leaders in cases. The government attempt was to divert people`s attention from its failure, he alleged. Before walking out, Achuthanandan said the land case against him was bogus and alleged that he was implicated in the case because he was still fighting cases against Chandy (in Palmolive import corruption case) and IUML leader and Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty (ice cream sex scandal). The Opposition leader said he was aware of the fact that some of the leaders in UDF used to make frequent phone calls to the officials probing the land case against him. `Truth will come out one day`, he said. Speaker G Karthikeyan disallowed the opposition plea for debate after the reply of Chandy and Radhakrishnan, following which the opposition staged a walk out. PTI