PALAKKAD: Just a week after the CPM decided to reinstate Shoranur MLA PK Sasi to the party’s Palakkad district committee after a six-month suspension, the legislator has courted yet another controversy, this time for allegedly badmouthing a tipper lorry driver who overtook his vehicle at Mangode near Adakkaputhur here on Saturday.
The video of the incident has gone viral on social media and is being used by his detractors to highlight his ‘high-handedness’. However, the driver of the lorry, Iqbal, has clarified in a social media post that Sasi was only advising him.
The incident occurred when the speeding lorry overtook Sasi’s vehicle. Following this, the lorry was waylaid by Sasi’s car and the MLA, who got out of his vehicle, allegedly asked the driver whether he knew how to drive. Sasi is seen allegedly telling the lorry driver that he would “hit” the driver “so hard that would not be able to see again.” Sasi is also seen asking his lieutenants to note down the lorry’s number.
However, Iqbal, in a video posted on social media, said Sasi was only advising him not to speed. Iqbal admitted he had committed a mistake.
A PENCHANT FOR controversy
In November last year, Sasi had been suspended from the CPM’s primary membership for six months after a woman DYFI member levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Earlier, just a few months after the LDF Government assumed power, Sasi had kicked up a row for publicly abusing two cops attached with the Cherpulassery police station for rounding up CPM activists.
Totally unwarranted, says legislator
Palakkad: Shoranur MLA PK Sasi said there was no need to create a controversy on the issue as the lorry driver had admitted his mistake.“The lorry was missing the right-side mirror due to which the driver did not have control over the vehicle. The lorry was dangerously close to my vehicle. There are eyewitnesses to the incident,” Sasi told reporters.“Naturally, I got out of my vehicle and scolded the driver, a Veeramangalam native. Though I noted down the registration number of the vehicle, it was only meant to alert the driver. I told the police not to register a case against the driver as his family members will also be affected,” he said. Sasi said he should have been the complainant in the issue as the lorry would have hit his vehicle. “However, I have no complaint against the driver,” he said.