CPI alleges BJP-RSS workers who were accused of attacking E. Chandrasekharan got help from CPI(M).
The case of the attempted murder of senior CPI leader E Chandrasekharan and the acquittal of 12 BJP-RSS workers last week has become a point of contention between the CPI and the CPI (M).
P. Prakash Babu, a member of the CPI’s National Executive Committee, said that two CPI(M) leaders in Kasaragod, who were witnesses for the defence, turned against each other during the trial to help the RSS-BJP workers who attacked the Left leader.
Chandrasekharan, who was a minister in the previous LDF government, was attacked in Kasaragod on May 19, 2016, right after the results of the Assembly elections were announced. Chandrasekharan was then accompanied by T K Ravi and Anil Bankalam, two local CPI(M) leaders who were later called as witnesses for the prosecution. But when the case went to trial at the Additional Sessions Court in Kasaragod, both CPI(M) leaders became hostile, which was a huge embarrassment for the Left. The court didn’t find any of the accused guilty last week.
Senior CPI leader Prakash Babu said that the CPI(M) men’s position in the case was very bad and made no sense. Babu said, “Instead of telling the truth about the attack on the CPI leader in court, the CPI(M) men took a stand to help the accused Sangh Parivar workers.”
M V Balakrishnan, who is the CPI(M) Kasaragod District Secretary, said that party members did not help the BJP in the case. “The CPI thought wrongly about it. He said that the CPI(M) would look into the claim.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), which is in power in Kerala, is made up of the CPI and the CPIM.
