Criminal past to haunt many: Oommen Chandy

Kochi: The Facebook post by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy recalling the role of CPM leaders in indulging in politics of violence has triggered a debate, especially on the social media, on the criminal history of many candidates who are in the fray now.

In his post, the chief minister said top CPM leaders including Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan and CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan are facing criminal cases. “While Mr Achuthanandan has been involved in a case related to donating land to a relative, the Lavalin case against Mr Vijayan is still in the High Court,” he said. Mr Chandy also listed the names of LDF candidates M.V. Nikesh Kumar, T.V. Rajesh, James Mathew, and A.A. Rasheed as being involved in criminal cases.    

However, Left supporters on Facebook have challenged the chief minister’s  attempt to bestow the sole responsibility of political murders at the gate of the CPM. Based on the list of candidates in the 2011 Assembly elections, Farmis Hashim, claiming to be a freethinker, in a post said the Congress and the BJP topped in the first two positions in fielding candidates with criminal backgrounds in the 2011 elections.

The post pointed out that that Mambram Divakaran, the Congress candidate contesting against Pinarayi Vijayan at Dharmadam was an accused in the murder of a CPM activist and was convicted for seven years of imprisonment.
The Congress leaders questioning the political morality of the CPM fielding Mr Vijayan, living under the shadow of the TP Chandrasekharan murder case, are silent about the propriety of fielding such persons as party nominees, he pointed out.