Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 12 (IANS) Former Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil on Monday hit back at CPI-M veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, asking the former Kerala Chief Minister to concentrate on securing bail for himself, his daughter Veena, and son-in-law Mohammed Riyas in the CMRL-Exalogic case instead of questioning his role in the Congress.
“Mr Vijayan, do not make me recount your history and that of your kitchen cabinet,” Mamkootathil said in a strongly worded social media post, responding to Vijayan’s remarks in the Assembly on Monday about the former legislator’s alleged influence over the Congress and the police in Adoor in Pathanamthitta district.
“Instead of looking into my affairs, Mr Vijayan, first go and seek bail for yourself, your daughter and your son-in-law in the case involving the receipt of illegal money,” he said.
The sharp exchange came on a day the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau registered an FIR in the CMRL-Exalogic case, naming Vijayan as the first accused and his daughter, T. Veena, as the second accused.
Challenging Vijayan’s allegation that a person who was no longer in the Congress was controlling the party in Adoor and influencing police operations there, Mamkootathil hit back, saying the Congress in Adoor was controlled by its MLA and the local leaders of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, District Congress Committee and block committees, not by him.
He also maintained that the police were answerable to their own officers, including the Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police, and Circle Inspector.
On his involvement, Mamkootathil said he had already made it clear that he would stand by his colleagues if they faced trouble, even at the cost of his life.
Turning the attack on Vijayan’s family, he questioned why DYFI and SFI activists had faced police action and imprisonment over allegations involving payments to Veena’s company, asking what connection she had with the CPI-M.
Vijayan, without naming Mamkootathil directly in his Assembly speech, had questioned who had entered and attacked a police vehicle during a night march in Adoor and alleged that the police were acting according to the instructions of a person who was not even a Congress member.
The remarks came amid continuing clashes between DYFI and Youth Congress workers in Adoor.
Several people, including Mamkootathil and CPI-M Adoor area Secretary Manoj, were injured in the violence. Mamkootathil, who was expelled from the Congress last year after allegations of sexual misconduct by three women surfaced, was arrested in one of the cases and spent several days in jail before securing bail.
He obtained anticipatory bail in the other two cases.
The latest exchange adds another layer to the long-running political hostility between the two leaders, who had crossed swords in the Assembly when Mamkootathil was an MLA and Vijayan was Chief Minister.
–IANS
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