Southern States
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Kerala
Cong. leader denies role in violence
By Our Staff Reporter
PATHANAMTHITTA, JAN. 24. The former DCC secretary and municipal councillor, A. Shamsuddin, has denied any role in the arson and violence of December 7 night in Pathanamthitta.
Addressing a press conference here today, he said he had not given protection to any of the accused in the violence. The allegations raised against him by the BJP were part of a political conspiracy aimed at tarnishing his political image through a ``well drawn out mudslinging campaign'', he said.
Mr. Shamsuddin alleged that some Congress leaders in the district too were hand in glove with the BJP to malign his political career. According to him, there was every reason to suspect the role of some Congress leaders in the conspiracy and the conclave made by certain party leaders with the Union Minister, O. Rajagopal, and the BJP district president, V.N. Unni, in Pathanamthitta a few weeks ago was part of this.
However, he declined to disclose the names of the party leaders who had allegedly conspired against him. When asked about the `relevance' of the meeting of the KPCC joint secretary, Ajeeba M. Sahib, who is also the Pathanamthitta municipal chairperson, with Mr. Rajagopal at the Tourism Guest House here during the latter's visit to the violence-hit areas a few weeks ago, Mr. Shamsuddin said that it was ``a question better be posed to Ms. Ajeeba and the BJP leadership''.
``The municipal councillor, Sharafuddin, who was reportedly taken into custody by the police on December 7 night had told me that Ms. Ajeeba had visited him at the police station. Then, how can she deny that the councillor had been released from custody by the time she reached the police station?'' Mr. Shamsuddin asked.
He said that the chairperson should have avoided her meeting with Mr. Rajagopal and the BJP district president, taking into account the communal tension that had prevailed in the municipal limits then.
Reacting to the Chief Minister's reported statement that five of the arrested in Pathanamthitta were Congress workers, he said none of the arrested in connection with the violence had even the primary membership of the party.
Mr. Shamsuddin said that all the police officers who were present in the town during the violence knew fully well that he had been helping the police in suppressing violence and protecting the Sabarimala pilgrims.
He called for a CBI inquiry into the Pathanamthitta incidents and said that no culprit should be allowed to escape from the clutches of law. He criticised the municipal leadership's failure in taking any effective step to restore peace and communal amity in the area following the violence.
Mr. Shamsuddin said that the police department should clarify whether Mr. Sherafuddin had been taken into custody on December 7 night, if so, on what charges and who was behind his release from the custody the same night itself?
He said that he had already complained to the KPCC president, K. Muraleedharan, the DCC president, K. Sivadasan Nair, and the senior party leader, P.J. Kurien, of the alleged political conspiracy against him especially on the eve of the reconstitution of the DCC.
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