Kerala CM not fit to continue as Home Minister: Congress leader Satheesan

V D Satheesan said a complaint has been made by the family of a CPI(M) worker in Pathanamthitta district that he died of police torture after getting framed in a false case cooked up by others in his own party.

Kochi: Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan on Friday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should shed the Home portfolio "in the wake of widespread reports" of alleged torture in police stations coming to light across the state.

Addressing reporters here, the senior Congress leader said Vijayan does not deserve to continue as Home minister after reports of police torture in custody are coming out from all the districts.

He wondered why the CM is allegedly keeping a studied silence even after several complaints of police atrocities have come out.

"The CM has no control over the home department and the hierarchy in the police force is not functioning. It has been taken over by a caucus in the chief minister’s office," Satheesan alleged.

He charged that the police stations in the state have been turned into ‘gulags’ of the Stalinist era in the erstwhile Soviet Union where innocents were allegedly tortured to death.

He said a complaint has been made by the family of a CPI(M) worker in Pathanamthitta district that he died of police torture after getting framed in a false case cooked up by others in his own party.

On the government’s plan to hold a minority meet at Kochi soon after the global Ayyappa Sangamam, Satheesan said the government has become a "butt of ridicule" in its last year by holding separate events for different religions.

"Let them hold events for each caste and sub caste. What is the purpose of all these events on the eve of elections? The government should not be turned into a joke,” he said.

Satheesan also alleged the state health department had totally failed to study the reasons behind the spread of amoebic encephalitis in different parts of the state.

He said that though 16 persons had already succumbed to the disease, the health department was not able to provide adequate warning to the people. "The department itself is on ventilator," he alleged.

Asked whether suspended MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil will attend the assembly session beginning on Monday, he said the KPCC president Sunny Joseph will take a decision on it at the appropriate time.