Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s instructions to DGP Jacob Punnoose to expedite enquiries into the ice-cream parlour sex scandal case involving Indian Union Muslim League state general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty was a clear instance of external interference in the investigation and a violation of election code of conduct, Mr. Kunhalikutty said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a “Meet the Leader” programme organised by the Calicut Press Club here. Arguing that a caretaker Chief Minister has no such powers to intervene in an ongoing enquiry, Mr. Kunhalikutty said that Mr. Achuthanandan’s dissatisfaction with the ongoing enquiry was a “clear testimony to the fact that the investigating agency had received no significant evidence against me in the case.”
He also said that the people of the State were intelligent enough to understand the election gimmicks the CPI(M) and the LDF were playing.
Coming down on the CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan for his alleged attempt to woo Jamaat-e- Islami votes in the coming election, Mr. Kunhalikutty said, “It only exposed the real face of the CPI(M) in the public.” He said that it was ironic that the CPI(M), which had labelled the Jamaat-e- Islami as a “terror outfit” during the Panchayat elections, found time to secretly meet the organisation’s leaders to beg for their votes.
Asked about the Congress and the IUML leaders’ reported visit to the Jamaat-e-Islami quarters, Mr. Kunhalikutty said that neither the UDF nor the IUML had delegated or entrusted anyone to engage in talks with the outfit’s leaders. He also maintained that Jamaat-e-Islami had already floated a political party which is outside the UDF and hence there was no question of the IUML or the Congress trying to woo them. “More than that they have already clearly worded out whom they are going to support in the coming election, which is not UDF,” he said.
The IUML leader, who was also the Industries Minister in the UDF ministry, said that his front, if elected to power, would do everything to support the public sector industrial units which had been reopened by the Left government over the last five years. “We are not against PSUs, provided they run well and make profit,” he said.
