Vijayan thwarted chances of Dalit man becoming CM in future, alleges UDF

Thiruvananthapuram | With Kerala gearing up for the November 13 bypolls, the opposition Congress has triggered a fresh political debate in the state by accusing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of hindering the possibility of a Dalit person becoming the chief minister of the state in the future.

The grand old party alleged that by sending senior CPI(M) leader and former Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan to Lok Sabha in the last Parliamentary election, CM Vijayan and the CPI(M) had blocked the possibility of a Dalit person becoming the future CM.

The party also claimed that voters of Chelakkara, where a bypoll is due on November 13 as Radhakrishnan was elected to the Parliament, would discuss the matter.

Raising the issue on Monday, Congress leader and Muvattupuzha MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan sought a reply from the CM in this regard.

Mentioning Radhakrishnan, a central committee member of the CPI(M), he said only during this period that a possibility arose for a Dalit man to become the chief minister of the state in the future.

Kuzhalnadan said the issue is not just about thwarting a chance for Radhakrishnan to become the CM in the future. "But it has created a situation where there is no minister belonging to the scheduled caste in the Cabinet now, for the first time in the history of the state," he said.

Kerala CPI (M) secretary M V Govindan

However, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan outrightly rejected Kuzhalnadan's allegations and said he was trying to trigger communal sentiments for electoral gains in bypoll bound Chelakkara.

The Marxist leader asked what has happened to the Muvattupuzha MLA and rubbished his claims.

"What he is preaching now is communal and divisive politics," he alleged, saying that it is a face of fascism