KOLLAM: The polling day marked high drama in Kundara constituency with EMCC director Shiju Varghese, an independent candidate, lodging a complaint with the police alleging that a petrol bomb was hurled at his vehicle around 5.30am. “I was attacked while I was on my way to the constituency in the morning,” said Shiju, who is contesting against LDF’s Mercykutty Amma.
Meanwhile, Fisheries Minister Mercykutty Amma retorted that Shiju was trying to sabotage the election process and mislead the public by faking an attack on himself. “Shiju tried to make it appear that he was attacked by someone this morning and eventually was stopped by the police when he tried to set ablaze his car,” she told reporters at the polling booth where she had reached to cast her vote. A bottle of petrol was recovered from his car and hence Shiju was taken into police custody, she said.
EMCC International (India) Pvt Ltd is the US firm that had signed the controversial deep sea fishing contracts with the Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation and Kerala State Industries Development Corporation, both of which have been cancelled following huge protest led by the Opposition.
“It was a planned move to sabotage the election process as part of a larger conspiracy by maritime foreign companies. The director created a scene here to give the impression that the attack was deliberately done by Left activists. Conspiracies to defame the government’s image have surfaced days before the election was announced,” Mercykutty Amma said.
Denying the minister’s allegations, the Kannanalloor police said the director was not taken into custody nor was any petrol bottle recovered from his vehicle.UDF candidate P C Vishnunadh said that by giving misleading statements about the EMCC director, the fisheries minister is trying to influence the voters. N K Premachandran, MP, demanded the police and Election Commission to solve the mystery behind the whole episode.