THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan on Tuesday courted a controversy after he claimed only three local body wards were washed away in the Wayanad landslides, not an entire region. “It is not right to say a region was washed away in the landslides.
Only three wards in two panchayats were destroyed. Money can be sanctioned only according to the law,” Muraleedharan had told reporters in response to questions over the delay in central aid to rehabilitate the victims of the July 30 calamity.
Maintaining that the Union government had not said additional assistance won’t be given to Wayanad, Muraleedharan accused political parties of using the disaster for political gains. He also termed the joint LDF-UDF hartal in Wayanad against the Centre’s stand, “a drama to prevent BJP’s victory in the bypolls.”
He also said there was no point in having emotional talks on the issue. “The state governemnt asked for Rs 214 crore from the Centre for rehabilitation. It is, however, not spending the Rs 788 crore it has in its possession for disaster relief,” he said. His remarks stirred up a controversy with the CPM and Congress accusing him of trivialising the tragedy.
Kalpetta MLA T Siddique accused Muraleedharan of insulting the victims, while Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas, in a Facebook post, termed Muraleedharan a “disaster of a severe nature.”
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam said the former union minister’s remarks could not be pardoned. “There are a lot of victims in Wayanad who do not have any information about their kin. Muraleedharan spoke against them. It is unpardonable,” he said.
LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan said Muraleedharan’s analysis of the disaster was unrealistic.
Protests across district
Kalpetta: Wayanad saw a slew of protests on Tuesday against BJP leader V Muraleedharan for his remarks on Wayanad landslide. The UDF workers burned the former Union minister in effigy at Chungam near Sultan Bathery. MLA T Siddique said with this statement, the BJP’s true face has come out once again.