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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Kerala
By Our Special Correspondent
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 23. The former Speaker and senior Congress leader, V. M. Sudheeran, today quit the KPCC executive committee to protest against the party leadership's failure to take decisive action in the allegations of sexual misdemeanour against the Industries Minister, P. K. Kunhalikkutty. He alleged that Mr. Kunhalikkutty was holding the Congress to ransom with the threat that the Government would fall if action was taken against him. Mr. Sudheeran called on the KPCC president, Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, here this morning and handed over his letter of resignation. He told the party State president that Wednesday's KPCC executive committee's decision to authorise the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, and the KPCC president to resolve the issue without causing any harm to the Congress did not amount to an adequate response to the strong feelings of the people, including Congressmen, on the Kunhalikkutty issue. Mr. Balakrishna Pillai said he had advised Mr. Sudheeran not to go to such extremes as his presence on the committee would be required when the party was called upon in future to handle serious issues. There was no set procedure relating to resignation from the KPCC executive and, as such, he could not say what would happen to Mr. Sudheeran's letter, the KPCC president said.
`Blackmail tactics'
Later, Mr. Sudheeran told reporters that the turn of events during the last few days indicated that the Industries Minister was blackmailing the IUML leadership, the Congress and the Government with the threat that the Government would fall if action was taken against him. Mr. Kunhalikkutty had tried his best to suppress the Kozhikode ice-cream parlour sex racket case when the LDF was in power and had succeeded to a great extent. The same was being attempted now. If the prime witness in the case, Rejina, had changed her evidence, it only meant that pressure was brought upon her to change her version of the story. There were also attempts to get the case transferred from the Bench handling it in the High Court and to prevent the presentation of the entire facts of the case before the Court. All these showed that a free and fair investigation and trial into the case would be impossible with Mr. Kunhalikkutty holding office as Minister, particularly as he had succeeded in suppressing the case when the LDF was in power. Mr. Sudheeran said he had chosen to react in very strong terms as the Congress was the worst hit by the scandal. Everybody who spoke at the KPCC executive committee on Wednesday had said so. It was not his case that Mr. Kunhalikkutty was guilty of what he had been accused of. All that he wanted was for the Minister to clear his name. The Chief Minister had told the KPCC executive that the Government had done everything within the law in the matter.
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