KOCHI: The Left Democratic Front’s new alliance with the Jose K Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M) has started off on a note of friction in the Kochi Corporation with the front expressing strong displeasure over the candidature of Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran.
After the KC(M) decided to field Dhanesh in the Ponekkara division, CPM district secretary C N Mohanan on Tuesday came out against the move to let Dhanesh — an accused in a molestation case — contest in the local body polls.
“We have asked the KC(M) district unit to remove the said candidate. We were not aware that he is an accused in the molestation case. We have spoken to the current and former district presidents of the KC(M),” Mohanan told TNIE.
The central police had arrested Dhanesh, an advocate at the High Court, in July 2016 allegedly for having molested a woman. According to the police, the woman, a resident of Njarakkal, was returning home after work when the accused followed her and tried to molest her. A case is still pending before the court.
Meanwhile, the KC(M) leaders said the seat was allotted to Dhanesh with the knowledge of CPM leaders.
“We asked for nearly six seats in the Kochi corporation. But the CPM allotted only three seats for the group including Kadavanthra, Thoppumpady and Konthuruthy. Later, the district leadership asked us to drop the Kadavanthra, which is our sitting seat, and allotted Ponekkara. During discussions, we mentioned the name of the candidate who will be fielded. Some party workers are creating issues. How can we drop our strong candidate?” said V V Joshy, state general secretary, KC(M).He also said several leaders are accused in various cases and are contesting the polls.
“Dhanesh is a capable leader. For him, we decided to drop our sitting seat of Kadavanthra. We hope the district leadership will decided to work jointly for the success of Dhanesh,” he added. Meanwhile, Dhanesh has started campaigning. However, the CPM workers were unhappy and expressed their displeasure at having to work for the candidate.