Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, June 1 (IANS) Former Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan Friday again spoke out against his CPI-M and said it should not have gone to the court against the media over the probe into the murder of former leader T.P. Chandrasekharan.

Addressing reporters in Kozhikode, Achuthanandan said he did not endorse the actions of his party, which has approached the Kerala High Court with a petition seeking that the media be reined in in the Chandrasekheran murder case.

“It was not correct on the part of the party to approach the court against the media,” Achuthanandan said.

On Wednesday, Kozhikode Communist Party of India-Marxist district secretary T.P. Ramakrishnan sought to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the media for publishing details of the investigation in the case.

Former CPI-M firebrand T.P. Chandrasekharan, who left the party in 2008 to form a new party, was murdered May 4. Since then, more than a dozen lower and middle level leaders from this district have been arrested.

Achuthanandan also slammed the speech of his former cabinet colleague Elamaram Kareem, who warned a police official investigating the murder of dire consequences if he did not behave properly.

“Threatening officials is not the accepted norm of our party. The need of the hour is to see that all cooperate in the investigation so that the real accused are brought before law,” said Achuthanandan.

Achuthanandan, who Chandrasekharan looked up to until he quit the CPI-M, was the only leader to have gone to the victim’s house and spoken out against the widely condemned killing.

While the party described Chandrasekharan as a “renegade”, Achuthanandan said he was a true Communist.

As if in response, M.M. Mani, another CPI-M leader who belongs to the anti-Achuthanandan faction, blurted out that the Marxists believed in tit for tat killings.

Referring to Mani, who is reported to be missing for the past few days fearing arrest, Achuthanandan said: “Long ago leaders like him went underground but that was the time when the British was hunting them because they fought for the rights of the labour class and the farmers.

“But you all know very well, why Mani is now underground and you should find out,” he added on a cryptic note.