Kozhikode, Jan 19 (PTI) Hitting back at CPI(M) leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan for his statement that leaders belonging to the minority communities were sidelined in the Congress, former Kerala PCC president and Lok Sabha MP K Muraleedharan on Wednesday said it was part of an agenda to make Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s son-in-law and PWD Minister P A Muhammed Riyas as his successor.
Muraleedharan alleged that the CPI(M) state secretary Balakrishnan made such a statement for fulfilling the wishes of Chief Minister Vijayan who wanted to see Riyas as his successor.
“Kodiyeri Balakrishnan is acting on behalf of Pinarayi Vijayan just as Union Home Minister Amit Shah acts on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Balakrishnan’s statement is part of an agenda to make Riyas as the next Chief Minister,” Muraleedharan told reporters here.
Taking a dig at CPI(M), Muraleedharan said Riyas as state chief minister was not digestible for many in that party and the Congress was not responsible for that.
“We have no problem in CPI(M) making Riyas as Chief Minister but that should not be done on the account of the Congress party,” the senior Congress leader said, responding to Balakrishnan’s allegation that leaders belonging to minority communities were neglected and sidelined in the Congress in line with the party leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Jaipur calling for establishing “rule of Hindus” in the country after ousting the “Hindutva” government at the Centre.” Senior CPI(M) leader E P Jayarajan termed as “immature” the remarks of Muraleedharan and said the Congress has become a group of people making sub-standard statements on political issues.
“These statements reflect the lack of standards of the Congress. Therefore, there is no response to the immature views of the Congress leaders,” Jayarajan said, adding that if the Congress discusses politics, it can respond to it.
Talking to reporters in Kannur on Tuesday, Balakrishnan had alleged that the Congress even sidelined its prominent minority faces, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid and K V Thomas, from the national-level leadership as part of the party’s new policy.
Accusing the Congress of discontinuing the representation of people from minority communities in the Congress’s Kerala leadership, Balakrishnan had sought to know whether the move was part of the new policy announced by Gandhi in Jaipur.
Addressing a rally against inflation in Jaipur last month, Rahul Gandhi had said India is a country of Hindus and not Hindutvadis who want to be in power at any cost. PTI TGB BN BN
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