JD (U) sat idle on panel report against Manayath Chandran

Kozhikode: Trouble is brewing in JD (U) after a news channel on Saturday leaked out the party’s inquiry commission report recommending disciplinary action against its Kozhikode district secretary Manayath Chandran, who is all set to contest from Vadakara as UDF candidate.

The probe panel, which examined the defeat of party candidate M.K. Premnath here in 2011, accused that he had worked against Mr Premnath.

“The rallies carried out by the party workers against Mr Premnath were mobilised by Mr Chandran. He also knew about the attack on Premnath’s office,” the report prepared by Alunkal Devassy, Thomas Sabu and K.K. Hamsa says. Mr Premnath was defeated by C.K. Nanu of JD (S) by mere 840 votes.

“JD (U) state leadership sat on the report for five long years. It was not presented at the state committee meeting. Neither the party nor police initiated action against those who hurled bombs at my office and tried to kill me,” Mr Premnath told DC.

After the defeat and the subsequent ill-treatment, several leaders, including him, resigned and joined JD (S). Mr Premnath, the then JD (U) district president, alleged that he was removed from the post by a conspiracy hatched by Mr Chandran. Meanwhile, Mr Chandran denied the allegations.

Besides the revelation of the commission report, the resignation of Edayath Sreedharan as the party's district secretary has put Mr Chandran’s candidature in a fix.