India News | Congress Chief Sudhakaran Makes Unsavoury Remarks Against Chief Minister Vijayan Again

Kochi, May 17 (PTI) KPCC chief K Sudhakaran on Tuesday once again courted controversy after he allegedly made unsavoury remarks against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during an interview.

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Meanwhile, the ruling CPI(M) urged the senior Congress leader to withdraw his remarks to an online channel during the campaign for the upcoming Thrikkakara Assembly by-poll against Vijayan, else legal action would be initiated against him.

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In the interview, a visibly irritated Sudhakaran was seen furious over the fact that the Left leaders including the chief minister, ministers and MLAs were camping in Thrikkakara constituency to campaign for the CPI(M) candidate Dr Jo Joseph.

The Congress has fielded Uma Thomas, wife of late senior leader and MLA P T Thomas, as the party's candidate. The bypoll was necessitated due to the demise of Thomas.

The video of the interview where Sudhakaran made the alleged unsavoury remarks against the Chief Minister went viral on social media.

Left Democratic Front (LDF) convenor E P Jayarajan demanded action against the KPCC president for his alleged unsavoury remarks against the senior CPI(M) leader.

Condemning the statement by Sudhakaran, the CPI(M) urged the people to raise their protest in a peaceful manner.

Criticising Sudhakaran, senior Left leader and minister V Sivankutty demanded that he withdraw the statement and apologise.

"The Thrikkakara bypoll result will show that Kerala is not with such demeaning politics of the Congress," CPI(M) said in a statement.

Jayarajan said the Congress leaders have lost their mind fearing that they may lose the bypoll at Thrikkakara and have started "abusing" the Left leaders.

"His statement intends to provoke the people in the state. Will the AICC take action against him? One can politically criticise anyone but this is not that," Jayarajan said adding that people of the state will realise the politics of Congress.

This is not the first time that the Congress leader has abused Vijayan. Earlier in 2021, Sudhakaran had made an alleged casteist abuse against Vijayan and called the Left leader "Chethukaran Korante Makan" which means son of toddy-tapper.

Vijayan had gracefully responded and said he was proud that he was the son of a hardworking man who was a toddy tapper.

Reacting to the statement of Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition, V D Satheesan, said he did not see such a statement from the KPCC chief and "will look into it and react later".

However, he said there was no need for the Chief Minister and the ministers to camp at the constituency and campaign.

Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy said the Left need not teach the Congress, dignity.

"We will win the constituency for sure and everyone knows that. That's why the whole ministry is campaigning for the Left here," Chandy said.

In Thrikkakara, which is considered a traditional Congress constituency, Thomas had a lead of over 13,000 votes. Banking on the sympathy votes, the Congress has fielded his widow Uma Thomas as the candidate.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has fielded well-known cardiologist Jo Joseph to wrestle back the constituency and reach the magic number of 100 seats out of the 140 seats in the state assembly.

The election will take place on May 31 and the counting is on June 3.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)