Thiruvananthapuram: The political slugfest in Kerala between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and State Congress chief K Sudhakaran over their college life continue unabated with both trading barbs and allegations.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and member of parliament K Sudhakaran has dared Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday to have a debate with him.
The slugfest between the two started after the KPCC president, in an interview with a popular Malayalam weekly, said that he had kicked Pinarayi Vijayan during their college days and that Pinarayi was a timid person those days.
Replying to Sudhakaran, the chief minister in a press conference, on Friday, said that the KPCC president was daydreaming on his exploits and that several people those days had that dream of physically intimidating him but could not reach him.
Continuing with the verbal tirade, Sudhakaran said that the attack against the chief minister is personal and that the CM is a mafia king. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Sudhakaran said that he would continue his attack against Pinarayi until he engages him in a political debate.
Sudhakaran, in his Facebook post, said that Pinarayi is a political criminal and that he has to be dealt with in this manner only. He said that Pinarayi Vijayan was indulging in rotten personality worship. Sudhakaran also said that the chief minister is a dictator and has crushed the political life of CPM leaders like former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, M A Baby and K K Shailaja.
The KPCC president also said that former Kerala high court judge late K Sukumaran had opined that Pinarayi had mafia connections during a hearing of a case in which gun pellets were seized in a handbag carried by Pinarayi at Thiruvananthapuram airport. Sudhakaran also said that Pinarayi did not pursue against the Judges comment and had even withdrawn the legal notice served to the judge.
Sudhakaran said that Pinarayi Vijayan has to be stopped or the state would slip into anarchy and that the state has been witnessing this for the past five years. The senior Congress leader said, "He has to be attacked politically and exposed, otherwise this culture of dictatorship will continue. Let him come for a political debate, otherwise, I will continue with this verbal attack."
After Sudhakaran's interview was published in the vernacular magazine, Pinarayi had on Friday, while replying to a query from reporters raised the allegation that a person close to the current KPCC president had years ago revealed to him that Sudhakaran had plans to kidnap Pinarayi's son and daughter who were school students then.
The chief minister had also pointed out various allegations made by other Congress leaders against Sudhakaran including certain smuggling activities and assault cases against the Congress chief.
A day after Pinarayi's remarks, Sudhakaran came out with a rebuttal and asked the chief minister to maintain the "dignity of the post he is holding."
Hitting out at Pinarayi for having levelled the allegation during his press meet to give details of COVID-19, Sudhakaran wanted to know why no complaint had been filed with the police.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
