BJP exempted CM, says Chennithala

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has insulted the people of Kerala by denying permission to Chief Minister Oomen Chandy from attending a function. The act is unjustifiable exempting a congress chief minister after inviting him for the function.

Sankar was the KPCC president and a congress chief minister.

Modi will unveil the statue of former Kerala Chief Minister late R Sankar, a well-known leader of the Ezhava community, who had headed the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) and the Kerala PCC. “Also a communal agenda can not be ignored as this is a shame to the state of Kerala when its CM has been asked to stay away”, Congress’ VM Sudheeran said on Sunday.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said it was unfortunate that the organisers had asked chief minister not to attend the function after releasing the notice containing his name. Chandy, in a press note, stated he was “deeply saddened” over being kept away from the function following a request of Vellappally Natesan, organiser of the event. “As part of protocol and courtesy it was my responsibility to take part in a function being attended by the Prime Minister”.

M.A. Baby, another leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said the chief minister’s soft response to the SNDP reflected his incapacity to stand up to Sangh Parivar.

Some 12,000 special passes have been issued by the district police and the district BJP leaders said they expect almost one lakh people for the rally.

“The Kollam programme, according to me, is a private function”. The BJP has become a serial offender in nearly all the opposition-ruled state’s in humiliating democratically elected chief ministers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who flies into Kochi this evening on his first visit to Kerala, would be touching down on a political landscape dug up by a seething controversy over an alleged violation of protocol.

Meanwhile, local legislator and CPI-M leader P.K. Gurudasan, who was invited to the function, has decided not to take part in it.