On Camera, CPI(M), BJP Councillors Clash At Thiruvananthapuram Corporation

Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday alleged that the CPI(M) was resorting to politics of violence to divert public attention at a time when the people of Kerala had recognised the complete failure of the party's ten-year rule in the state.

Speaking at the Medical College Hospital after visiting Mayor VV Rajesh, Deputy Mayor G Ashanath, and others who were injured in violence at the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Chandrasekhar said the CPI(M) was attempting to use orchestrated violence as a political weapon.

He said Chief Minister Satheesan's White Paper presented in the Assembly had exposed the financial mismanagement and administrative failures of the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government, and that the present developments were a deliberate attempt to shift public attention away from those issues.

Drawing a parallel with incidents during a previous Congress-led government, Chandrasekhar said that just as violence had once erupted inside the Assembly, the BJP would not permit anyone to storm the Mayor's office and unleash violence.

"Whether it is Pinarayi Vijayan or any CPI(M) comrade, nobody will be allowed to take the law into their own hands," he said.

He further asserted that no one should imagine that the BJP, the country's largest political party, could be intimidated through what he described as cheap political theatrics.

According to Chandrasekhar, the BJP had anticipated days ago that the CPI(M) would stage such protests to divert attention from the corruption allegations and administrative failures being exposed in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

"What happened today is merely a repetition of that script," he said.

While acknowledging that every political party has the democratic right to protest and agitate, he pointed out that the people of Kerala should protest outside the AKG Centre over the Exalogic corruption controversy.

He also said public protests should be directed against unemployment, inflation, economic decline, and the CPI(M)'s failure to resolve civic issues such as waste management and drinking water shortages, despite governing the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation for 45 years.

Chandrasekhar stressed that Kerala is governed by the rule of law, not by the CPI(M).

"The courts, police, and other legal institutions will perform their duties. The CPI(M) cannot place itself above the law," he said.

He further claimed that the BJP-led NDA had emerged as a strong alternative in Kerala after the Assembly elections and that the public had recognised what he termed as the political understanding between the CPI(M) and the Congress within the INDIA Bloc.

The CPI(M)'s actions, he said, reflected its frustration over setbacks both in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and in state politics.

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