Chennithala warns of legal measures against V S Achuthanandan

KANNUR: Slamming the charges raised by veteran CPM leader and Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan that there are 136 cases of corruption against the ministers in UDF government, senior Congress leader and home minister Ramesh Chennithala has said he would proceed with legal action if the CPM leader failed to withdraw the statement and apologise within two days.
"I challenge the CPM leader to prove the allegations against the ministers, because there was only one vigilance case for corruption registered against former minister K M Mani following which he also resigned from the post, and I don't know from where he got these figures," he said addressing a meet the press at Kannur Press Club on Monday.
Allegations can be raised against anyone, but to say that there is corruption case against any person, there should be an FIR and also the case should be registered in the court concerned, he said.
At the same time there is one vigilance case against Achuthanandan and two against his son Arunkumar, said the home minister, adding that it is for the people to decide who should go to jail.
"It is not just irresponsible but also a violation of the Supreme Court stand in this connection, and it is utterly ridiculous and quite unbecoming of the stature of an Opposition leader to make such baseless comments," he added.
Responding to the alleged remark made by CPM district secretary P Jayarajan in Nedumangad on Sunday in reference to political violence that the party would reply in the same measure though it would not start any attack from its part, the home minister said the government would consider registering a case against him after going through the entire speech.
"However, this speech is an indirect confession that the party has a role in the murders in the district and it also gives the impression that the murders are committed after discussing within the party," said Ramesh Chennithala.