THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, who failed to defend himself in the Assembly on Wednesday morning regarding his ‘not-even-a-dog’ comment against the family of Sandeep Unnikrishnan, later convened a press conference and conveyed his grief to the family of the slain Major.
Achuthanandan’s controversial remark had forced CPM general secretary Prakash Karat to issue a statement condemning VS’ stand.
CPM mouthpiece Desabhimani, in its editorial on Wednesday, admitted that certain remarks made by VS were regrettable.
It is reliably learnt that VS retracted his statement following a strict directive from the CPM leadership.
Earlier, while replying to the notice for adjournment motion given by Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan of the Congress, a visibly upset Achuthanandan had even accused imperialist forces including the US for triggering an unwanted controversy out of his remarks.
“The American imperialism can’t tolerate the scene of a unified India holding its head up among other countries. They sent terrorists to weaken India. The Congress and BJP are unleashing baseless campaign to help such forces,” accused the CM.
Reading out a statement, VS said he had pain and regret over the unwanted controversy.
“But it was nothing but a conspiracy.
Planned scenes were enacted in front of the house of Sandeep when we reached there. His father, Unnikrishnan had behaved rudely,” he said.
“Unnikrishnan did not have any problem dealing with Karnataka Chief Minister when he called on Sandeep’s family.
But the same man behaved in a different way when we reached there.
“I returned without talking to Unnikrishnan.
I had made some remarks to the media since I felt that certain comments made by Unnikrishnan during my visit was not suited for a family which had sacrificed a brave soldier for the country.
“There has been a calculated effort to mislead the public and there is a conspiracy between a section of media and the political parties,” he said.
A closed chapter
Meanwhile in Bangalore, though Sandeep’s family declined to react directly to Achuthanandan’s apology, a close friend of the family said the family too regrets certain developments and treats the matter as closed.
“Absolutely there is no problem whatsoever.
The Unnikrishnan family also regrets certain developments that happened when the Chief Minister visited their house.
“Those things need not be taken any further. It is a closed chapter,” Krishnan, a close friend of the family said.
Krishnan’s comments came after a close relative of Sandeep’s family earlier said that “we have learnt about the Chief Minister expressing regrets. But we don’t have comments on it.” Efforts to contact Sandeep’s father failed as his family members said he was sleeping and did not want to react.
With Achuthanandan’s statement of regret and Sandeep’s family’s call to end controversies, the issue that had been debated by the national media for the last couple of days is likely to die down.