Kozhikode: The tussle between Kozhikode district collector N. Prasanth and Mr M.K. Raghavan MP took a new turn on Friday with Mr Prasanth posting a map of Kunnamkulam on his personal Facebook wall. The followers of Mr Raghavan and a section of media interpreted it as an answer to the MP who had demanded an apology from the collector.
Mr Raghavan raised the demand after the collector alleged that the MP had intimidated the employees on disbursing the funds for the contractors of the collectorate in his absence while attending a review meeting on Wednesday. Mr Raghavan on Thursday had warned of taking legal steps and invoking parliamentary privileges for insulting an MP.
However, on the map controversy, Mr Raghavan said that putting the Kunnamkulam map was an insult to the entire people of Kozhikode. “He has been using such flimsy style for quite some time now against me,” he said and added that ever since the public protest on blocking the funds for the expansion of Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu by the district collector, the relationship between them was not good.
His allegation of threatening the employees was imaginary, Mr Raghavan said. “Why a young collector like Prasanth spreads blatant lies against me?” he asked. Mr Prasanth was tight-lipped about the map episode. “It was my personal mail without any message. It may be a reply for some other guy on a different issue. I don’t understand why so much interpretation is on over an innocent personal act,” he added.
Reacting to the issue, DYFI central committee member Muhammed Riaz told DC that the discussions on the posting of a map by the collector would only help to deviate from the real issue. “The MP has been manipulating for the contractors’ lobby ensuring release of funds without proper checks which was the reason behind the controversy,” he added. “Let the collector do his job and the MP should be more mature in taking such issues to the public domain,” he said.
