Kerala - Alappuzha   

Political parties fighting in the name of Maniappan

Staff Reporter

ALAPPUZHA: Political parties here are issuing statements blaming each other for the execution of Ramankutty Maniappan, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) employee who had been killed by the Taliban militia in Afghanistan.

While the CPI(M) leaders, including Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, and the Hindu Aikya Vedi came down heavily on the Central and State Governments for their failure to act promptly to save Maniappan, Alappuzha District Congress Committee (DCC) said that not a single MP of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) had tried to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Home Minister Shivraj Patel in connection with the issue.

DCC president Jayaprakash said the LDF leaders who did not care to speak for Maniappan when he had been in the custody of the terrorists, were now issuing provocative statements with the aim of political exploitation. He said that Haripad MLA T.K. Devakumar and Alappuzha MP K.S. Manoj should explain what they did for the release of Maniappan.

Mr. Jayaprakash said the Central Government did everything possible for the release of Maniappan. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala had visited the house of Maniappan at Chingoli, Mr. Jayaprakash said.

Meanwhile, the Karthikappally taluk observed a dawn to dusk hartal on Thursday in protest against the killing of Maniappan. The hartal had been peaceful. The SNDP Yogam and the Hindu Aikya Vedi separately called the hartal to protest against the killing of Maniappan.

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