CPI(M) PM Modi’s B-team in Kerala: Congress

Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran Congress leader K.Muraleedharan on Saturday slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his alleged “highhandedness” on media and the opposition parties and termed him “B-team” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Situation in Kerala is so bad that even the allies of the ruling Vijayan government are afraid to react, the Lok Sabha member said.

“Even the owner of the leading media outlet- Mathurbhumi- Shreyams Kumar (an ally of ruling Left Democratic Front) has expressed his displeasure over the manner the media is being haunted. During the first Vijayan government, the standard phrase to the media from Vijayan was ‘Get out’ from meeting places. In the second Vijayan government, it has changed to ‘Go to jail ‘”, said Muraleedharan — the son of legendary Congress leader K.Karunakaran.

“If Vijayan does not mend his ways, we will be forced to launch a never before seen protest, “ added Muraleedharan. The state has been witnessing a never before haunting of the media. By now quite a number of cases have been registered against top journalists working with leading media outlets, including a female journalist allegedly for anti-government news.

Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan said never before has the media in the state been haunted and hunted like this.

“We, the Opposition leaders are also being threatened by foisting cases on us. We are not going to be cowed down by it as we will tackle it legally and politically, but haunting the media for filing news reports is not acceptable at all,” said Satheesan.