Congress accuses Kerala CM Vijayan of acting with 'dictatorial mindset'

Kannur: The opposition Congress in Kerala on Wednesday accused the ruling CPI (M) of being "intolerant" towards other political parties and denying them the freedom to freely function even in the home village of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The Marxist party and CM Vijayan were acting with a "dictatorial mindset", which is unacceptable, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan told reporters here.

He was speaking after visiting the recently vandalised new Congress booth committee office at Venduttayi near Vijayan's hometown of Pinarayi.

The Congress has charged the CPI(M) with "orchestrating the vandalism" on Saturday last.

Terming the incident as "highly unfortunate" and "condemnable", he said, "It was in the home village of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the office of a political party was vandalised and set on fire."

The LoP sought to know what kind of democracy prevailed in the state as other political parties were not allowed to function even in the home village of the CM.

Satheesan demanded that the Chief Minister, who is acting like a "dictator", should respond to this.

"Stringent action should be taken against those who were responsible for this (vandalising of Congress office)," he said, adding that everyone was aware of the close connections of the attackers with the ruling party.

Alleging that the CPI (M) has been showcasing this "dictatorial attitude" throughout the state, the LoP said the Congress would not allow this at any cost.

The Leader of Opposition visited the vandalised local office of the party, days after the KPCC chief K Sudhakaran had courted a controversy by saying that CPI(M) offices could be demolished overnight.

Addressing party workers at the inauguration of a new Congress office in Venduttayi, which had allegedly been vandalised by unidentified people, Sudhakaran claimed on Sunday that it would only take 10 Congress workers to "bring down" CPI(M) offices in a single night.