Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan orders media to get out' of crucial meet

Thiruvananthapuram: The mediapersons were  at the receiving end when they went to cover the peace meeting between the leaders of the CPM and BJP-RSS at the Mascot Hotel here on Monday. They were ordered out by an angry chief minister who shouted at the cameramen, ‘get out’ and asked them, “who invited you  all here”? Mr Pinarayi Vijayan along with CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was about to enter the hall when he saw the cameramen  and flared up. He went in only after they came out. Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who was seen smiling  beside the chief minister, told  him that they were invited to take the visuals. 

Mr Pinarayi Vijayan retorted, “Who asked them”? After the meeting, Mr Vijayan walked away without responding to reporters’ questions. Mr Kodiyeri said  no solution can be found  if such issues  are discussed in the presence of the media. “I don’t think the CM acted rudely,”  he said. The chief minister’s office later came out with a statement saying that the media was not invited to the meeting.

“The CMO had not invited anyone to the meeting. Such issues cannot be discussed in the presence of the media.  When the CM and the other party leaders found the media inside the hall, the CM asked everyone to get out,”  said the statement. The district committee of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists termed the CM's behaviour as unfortunate. KUWJ district president C. Rahim and secretary B. S. Prasannan demanded that the CM should  have a cordial relationship with the media fraternity.