CPM leaders' procession to jail has begun, Kadakampally Surendran should be questioned next: V D Satheesan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Taking a dig at CPM, Opposition leader VD Satheesan said that the CPM leaders’ “procession to jail” has begun in the Sabarimala gold theft case. He was reacting to the arrest of A Padmakumar, former Devaswom Board president and CPM district committee member. Satheesan questioned why the Devaswom Board did not file a complaint against Unnikrishnan Potty if he alone was responsible. He said the CPM knew that if Potty was trapped, many others would also be caught. Satheesan added that the next person who should be questioned is former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, and alleged that the theft took place with the knowledge of current Devaswom Minister Vasavan.

The opposition leader said that if the High Court had not intervened, the Ayyappa golden idol too would have been stolen. He questioned why Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is silent on the issue. Satheesan alleged that the theft happened with the CPM’s knowledge and mocked that only MV Govindan can say that the party has no problem even if its own leaders go to jail. He added that the investigation progressed only because the court directly intervened. Otherwise, he said, the situation would have been similar to the incident where the officer who investigated the Naveen Babu suicide case later became a candidate.