The Opposition on Tuesday walked out of the Assembly after accusing the government of having abetted the suicide of a non-resident Keralite investor by repeatedly stonewalling his attempts to open an auditorium he had built with his life savings.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-controlled Anthoor Panchayat in Kozhikode had cruelly denied the investor, Sajan Parayil, to open the auditorium he had built in his son’s name at Bekkalam.
The resident had toiled for two decades in Nigeria and sunk his entire savings into the dream project. Mr. Chennithala said Parayil took his life after realising that the auditorium would be a non-starter under the current disposition.
The municipal authorities had found no violations in the construction but the chairperson, Shyamala Teacher, wife of CPI (M) central committee member Govindan Master, had obsessively spurned the investor’s pleas, he said.
He said Parayil’s death flew in the face of the government’s claim that it was investor-friendly. The State had raided the treasury to organise the Kerala Lok Sabha, a conclave of NRIs, which turned out to be a huge white elephant. It led to several foreign junkets for the Minister and little else in terms of investment for the State, said Mr. Chennithala.
Sunny Joseph, the Congress legislator who moved the adjournment motion, blamed the “turf war” between CPI (M) Kannur secretary P. Jayarajan and Ms. Teacher for the investor’s suicide.
He said Sajan had sought Mr. Jayarajan’s help to get the licence to kick off the project. However, Ms. Teacher chided him by stating that “your contacts in high places won’t work here,” he alleged.
The Opposition said Parayil’s family had also squarely blamed the local CPI (M) and Ms. Teacher for the death.
Minister for Local Self Governments A. C. Moideen’s statement that Parayil was depressed earned the ire of the Opposition. Mr. Moideen’s announcement that he would order an inquiry by the Chief Town Planner, Vigilance, into the matter did not satisfy them.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement that the government had taken a serious view of the issue did not mollify the United Democratic Front benches. The Opposition said it would settle only for a police investigation into the incident.
