THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Walking into the trap laid by new state Congress president K Sudhakaran, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday unleashed a scathing attack against him and levelled a serious allegation that Sudhakaran had plotted to kidnap his son and daughter while they were school students in Kannur.
During the media briefing on the Covid-19 situation, the chief minister took around 20 minutes to reply to the claims made by Sudhakaran in his interview published in a vernacular weekly.
The shift of stand to attack mode by Pinarayi, who had greeted Sudhakaran’s appointment as the state Congress president last week, is believed to be part of the leader’s decision to take the bull by its horns. Sudhakaran later told reporters that he would reply to Pinarayi’s allegations in a press conference on Saturday. It seems that the war of words between Kannur veterans is set to intensify, giving the decimated Congress a solid platform to challenge the government and its captain head on. Those who had argued within the Congress for bringing Sudhakaran to the helm were mentioning repeatedly that only a macho leader like him can take on Pinarayi.
In the interview published by the weekly, Sudhakaran, who had been the leader of KSU in Government Brennen College, Thalassery, where Pinarayi also studied and worked for Kerala Student Federation, claimed that during a student clash at the college, he had kicked Pinarayi down.
‘Sudhakaran might have dreamt about kicking me’
Recalling an incident happened in early 1970s, Sudhakaran said Pinarayi had come rushing to the aid of his comrades, including former minister AK Balan. "I gave him one big kick. KSU workers soon surrounded Pinarayi and beat him to pulp," Sudhakaran claimed in the interview.
When asked for his comments about the interview, Pinarayi said Sudhakaran might have dreamt about kicking him and he didn’t want to prevent him from doing that. “He is bragging. How can he do this?” asked Pinarayi before reading out his version of incidents narrated by Sudhakaran.
He then said a close confidant of Sudhakaran had come to me and confided his plan to kidnap his children who were studying in school then. Pinarayi said he remained unfazed on hearing the plan and did not disclose the matter even to his wife so that she did not panic.
Referring to the student clash, Vijayan said he had spared Sudhakaran on that day in college as he did not want to be involved in a fight inside the campus as he had completed course and was there for writing exams. Pinarayi said he just intimidated Sudhakaran and showered a few expletives on him forcing Sudhakaran's friends to take him away.
Pinarayi also alleged that Congress leaders P Ramakrishnan and Mambaram Divakaran had referred to Sudhakaran as a corrupt person, murderer and kidnapper. The chief minister also accused the KPCC president of financial misappropriation in connection with the construction of the party office in Kannur.