The Central Prison in Kannur has lot of visitors these days and the much sought-after inmate there is none other than P.K. Kunhanandan, sentenced to life in the T.P. Chandrashekharan murder case. Going by what jail officials say, a visit by CPI(M) leaders and functionaries to the jail to see Kunhanandan is something of a daily phenomenon.
In the past few weeks, the visitors included CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, party Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, party Central committee member and LDF candidate for the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency P.K. Sreemathy, party district secretary P. Jayarajan, party’s young leader and Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency candidate A.N. Shamseer, and MLA James Mathew, among others. While the CPI(M)’s political rivals largely tend to see these visits as efforts to mollify the jailed local leader of the party so that he does not spill the beans about the murder case, the party views those visits as normal events.
According to CPI(M) leaders, as long as there are party cadres in jail, leaders and workers will visit them. Kunhanandan, for his part, looks calm and composed in jail, if what jail officials confide can be believed. They say that he spends much of his time reading newspapers and meeting visitors, little ruffled by the controversy every VIP visit triggers outside the prison.
Struggle for survival
Time was when Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) had an iconic status among Kerala’s sparse industrial landscape. But, with the new policy orientation of the Union, the premier public sector unit appears headed for imminent closure. The company management and the trade unions, which had tried their best to get the Union government to extend a lifeline to the ailing PSU, are now pinning their hopes on the Centre clearing a Rs.990.91-crore package, promised before the general elections were announced.
The unions are on the warpath on the issue, but the PSU appears headed to closure, what with the code of conduct remaining in force and the Central and State governments showing little interest in reviving the company.
A stiff demand
No one from Kerala has so far reached anywhere near being mentioned for Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian honour. But when the election campaign was at its peak in the Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency, the candidates were confronted with a stiff demand from sections of the voters: that they must promise to secure Bharat Ratna for an illustrious son of Palakkad, E. Sreedharan. When the demand for nominating Mr. Sreedharan, India’s ‘metro man’ came up, one of the main contestants even offered to write to the President making the nomination. He would have done that, but for an advice from his lawyer that doing so would invite action for breach of the model code of conduct. The candidate, however, promised those who approached him with the demand that if elected, he will take up the matter with next government and the President. Now what remains to be seen is whether that would help him win the poll.
With inputs from Mohamed Nazeer (Kannur), R. Ramabhadran Pillai (Kochi), and G. Prabhakaran (Palakkad)
