CM terms Mamkoottathil's actions 'criminal', Satheesan lists CPM offenders protected by party

Without even once referring to Rahul Mamkoottathil by name, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the individual's actions suggested criminal thinking. 

"During a conversation (from a leaked audio clip), he speaks not just about abortion but even goes to the extent of saying that if the abortion is not carried out he did not require much time to kill the woman. It suggests criminal thinking," the Chief Minister said during his post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday. 

He also said that the police would do whatever was legally possible in the case, especially Rahul's phone conversation that is perceived as a threat to a pregnant woman. "There is a public consensus that such a man should not remain in that position (as MLA). But that is not what we are witnessing. I am not sure for how long he can keep off the inevitable," the CM said. 

Pinarayi said that there were such cases earlier that had dented the image of public servants both in the state and in the country. "But to my knowledge no case has ever gone to this extreme," he said. "It is not just one complaint, there are reports of more," he said. The CM gave a cryptic reply when asked whether he was privy to more cases against Rahul. "How can I reveal what I have with me," he said with an amused smile.

Pinarayi also criticised the Congress leadership, particularly opposition leader V D Satheesan, for trying to protect Rahul. He said that certain people were wrongfully promoted in the Congress party. "The opposition leader's responses should have reflected the sentiments of many senior leaders in his party. The man's actions are an insult to politics and politicians. To go out of the way to protect such a person is to encourage such people," the CM said.

The opposition leader, in turn, said that when the CM pointed one finger at him he had four fingers turned back at his own self. "Who all has this CM protected? Two leaders accused of sexual abuse are ministers in his cabinet. Then a man who was accused of wrongdoing by a senior leader was protected and is now in a position where he can wield excessive powers. The leader who gave the complaint, a senior leader who was highly respected, was sidelined in the party. The accused has been kept close to him," Satheesan said.

"Then there is an MLA who is an accused in a rape case. The case has been charged by Pinarayi's own police. What action was taken," Satheesan said, and added sarcastically: "The party secretary (M V Govindan) said it had happened decades ago as if the deed was committed when this MLA was a small boy."

Satheesan also mentioned Swapna Suresh's allegations that had trapped the CM's former special secretary M Sivasankar in the gold smuggling scandal. The opposition leader called Sivasankar the man who had the influence to get the CM's signature on even a tissue paper. He did not call Swapna by name but referred to her as the 'avatar'. "Against how many CPM leaders this 'avatar' had hurled allegations? Against ministers, against the Speaker. Was any case registered against any of them. Did any one of them file a defamation case against these allegations," he said, and added: "How can anyone who had protected so many tainted CPM leaders question a decision the Congress had taken on moral grounds?"