Prove poll violence charge, demands Kerala home minister

KANNUR/NEW DELHI - Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan Sunday asked union Minister of State for Home Mulapally Ramachandran to provide evidence to his claim that the Marxist minister conspired to unleash violence in Kannur and Kasargode districts during the local bodies polls.

“Now that he (Ramachandran) claims he has the evidence to my role in the violence, I challenge him to come out with it,” Balakrishnan told reporters here.

“The violence was unleashed by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) activists. The good turnout was reported in all districts, which went to the polls yesterday (Saturday), clearly shows that things are fine and all can come and vote without fear,” Balakrishnan said.

Ramachandran, who was here Saturday to vote in the local body elections, said he had information that there would be violence in Kannur.

There was widespread violence in several places in Kannur and following complaints, the State Election Commission (SEC) ordered re-polling in five booths. This would be held Monday together with the polls in the remaining seven districts of the state.

Ramachandran told reporters in New Delhi Sunday that he has all the evidence to prove that Balakrishnan was part of the conspiracy to unleash violence in Kannur.

“They resorted to this after knowing that there would be a huge backlash against them from their own ‘party villages’ in Kannur. He (Balakrishnan) should come clean on why he did not want central forces to be deployed in Kannur,” he said.

Meanwhile, leaders of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress traded charges over the violence.

CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that it was “quite clear that the violence that was unleashed in Kannur was by the UDF activists”.

“This has been done after a conspiracy hatched by the leaders of the Congress-led UDF and was done to project that elections cannot be held in a fair manner. And the statement by Ramachandran that things went bad because no central forces was deployed is childish,” said Vijayan.

Congress state unit chief Ramesh Chennithala told reporters in Alappuzha that additional security should be deployed in all areas during the second phase of polling Monday, in the light of the happenings in Kannur.

“Yesterday’s (Saturday) violence in Kannur was worked out by Vijayan and Balakrishnan and the SEC (state election commission) has failed to do a clean job,” he said.

Polling will be held in the Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Trissur, Malappuram and Palakkad districts Monday.

–Indo Asian News Service