The Hindu : Kerala News : UDF skipped crucial issues: Sudheeran

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Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

UDF skipped crucial issues: Sudheeran

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, NOV. 25. The Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran has said that the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) will have to pay a heavy price for its failure to see the common man's reaction to the Kozhikode ice-cream parlour sex scandal and the alleged role of the Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, in it.

Inaugurating the annual district meet of the Kerala NGO Association here today, Mr. Sudheeran said Wednesday's UDF liaison committee meeting in Thiruvananthapuram appeared to be nothing short of a `hide-and-seek' game. Many important issues which the political leadership of the UDF ought to have discussed were not taken up. The most talked about joke in recent times is the repeated statements of political executives that `the law will take its own course'.

Kunhalikutty is guilty

``I will not say that Mr. Kunhalikutty is guilty until the court says so. However, circumstantial evidences show that he is guilty,'' he said.

Mr. Sudheeran said a responsible Minister after facing such grave charges and public protests should have kept himself away from the Cabinet till he proved his innocence in a court of law.

Mr. Sudheeran said the Kozhikode Vigilance Court had not exonerated Mr. Kunhalikutty in the corruption case associated with the ice-cream parlour sex scandal. The court is for a detailed inquiry into the corruption charges, he said.

Mr. Sudheeran alleged that there were attempts to subvert the course of law. This is what the recent statements of the former State Women's Commission chairperson Sugathakumari, the chairperson of the previous Assembly Committee on Welfare of Women and Children Meenakshi Thampan and the report of the former Director General of Prosecution Kallada Sukumaran reveal.

Mr. Sudheeran said the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, should see to it that the good deeds of his Government were not eclipsed by the general impression that he was shielding a corrupt Minister.

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