CM defends car trip with Vellappally Natesan, but refutes his remarks on CPI

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday defended his car trip with SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan. On CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam’s remark that he would not have done so, Mr. Vijayan replied that “Pinarayi Vijayan is not Binoy Viswam.”

“Pinarayi Vijayan is not Binoy Viswam. Pinarayi Vijayan adopted Pinarayi Vijayan’s stand. Binoy Viswam may have a different stand. He may not allow him in his car. I still think what I did was right,” Mr. Vijayan said at a press conference here.

At the same time, Mr. Vijayan strongly rejected Mr. Natesan’s controversial description of the CPI as “Chathiyan Chandu.” The CPI is an important partner in the LDF and no one in the Left harbours any feeling that they have been betrayed, he said. “The CPI is one of the key partners in our front. It is a Left party. We have very warm relations with that party in matters related to the front. None of us feels being betrayed in any way,” he said.

In the morning hours of Thursday, CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan told a television channel that the party had no compulsions to rein in Mr. Natesan. “We have always taken whatever good things said by him while rejecting his wrong statements,” Mr. Govindan said and this was echoed by the party’s general secretary M.A. Baby later in the day.

When asked about Mr. Natesan’s statement against the CPI, Mr. Govindan said that the CPI and the CPI(M) remained on the same page and were the two strongest allies in the Left Front.

Asked at his press conference as to who will lead the Left front in the Assembly polls, Mr. Vijayan said the party will take a decision at the appropriate time. “In our case, all such decisions are taken jointly. I don’t decide personally, but a decision is taken by the party,” he said.

Mr. Vijayan also urged caution against any let-up in the level of alertness against communalism in the Kerala society. “Kerala exists as a strong centre of secualrism. We should seriously look at whether that Kerala changing and, if so, in which direction,” he said. He accused the Congress and the BJP of supporting each other in elections in Kerala, citing the BJP victory in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation as a more recent example.