Thiruvananthapuram, May 2 (Inditop) Congress leader Oommen Chandy will go on a day-long fast in Kannur in Kerala to protest alleged violence by the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) workers in the district during the run up to polls April 16, a party spokesman said here Saturday.
“They (communists) have been resorting to violence in Kannur for long and it was visible ahead of April 16 Lok Sabha polls,” Congress spokesman M.M. Hassan said.
“This time they have been unable to terrorise the electorate on polling day and hence they have come out with baseless stories that Congress leaders like Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Chandy and others conspired to create terror in Kannur on the day of Lok Sabha polls,” said Hassan.
Kannur is known as a Left bastion. And elections there are usually tense affairs.
The verbal duel between the two parties escalated after the Congress said that son of senior CPI-M legislator P. Jayarajan and his friend were injured in an explosion April 16 near Kannur. The CPI-M rebutted saying that it was Congress which was “hiring goons to create terror” in the district.
CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan Tuesday said: “The goons who arrived to create terror were arrested by the police as they came out of the Congress office in Kannur, which has a history of engaging in such activities.”
rounak