V M Sudheeran slams CM Pinarayi Vijayan for Pillai' comment

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC chief V. M. Sudheeran has sought an apology from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for making a rude reference to P. S. Nataraja Pillai, the late finance minister of Travancore-Kochi on whose land the Kerala Law Academy stands. He asked him to withdraw his statement that the government had no plans to do anything of the kind as the family members of "some Pillai" sought. KPCC has decided to observe Feb 7 as a protest day across the state over the law school issue.

Mr Sudheeran called on Mr Pillai’s son Venkatesh and his family members residing at Peroorkada here. He alleged that it was a grave mistake on the part of Mr Vijayan. Mr Venkatesh told reporters that probably he might not know his late father, a freedom fighter, as Mr Vijayan belonged to Malabar. “CM committed the mistake in his eagerness to justify the management,” Mr Sudheeran said. “There is a hunch that there is a nexus between the academy administration and the LDF government. If the land is in illegal possession, then it should be taken over.”

He also alleged that when the revenue minister E. Chandrasekharan had announced a probe, Mr Vijayan said there would not be any probe which comes under a cloud. He asked him to realise his mistake and apologise, adding comments from CM were most unwarranted. Pillai's scholarly father Manonmaniam P. Sundaram Pillai owned the 11.49 acres of land transferred to his son after his death aged 42. The Travancore state confiscated it for his involvement in the freedom struggle. Though Mr Pillai was offered back the land while he was part of the Pattom Thanu Pillai Ministry of 1954-55, he refused to accept it.