THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM has come under attack on the issue of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's legal advisor M.K. Damodaran appearing for lottery baron Santiago Martin in the High Court. Veteran CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan, who fought a relentless battle against lottery mafia, expressed his displeasure over the issue. "I fought the case because of which Santiago Martin who was taking away money from here, had to leave lock, stock and barrel. We managed to throw him out," he said while replying to questions from mediapersons.
The CPM state leadership had launched a stinging criticism against UDF Government six years ago when Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for lottery operators to challenge the government's decision to ban lotteries of other states. The then CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had categorically stated that by appearing for lottery operators, Singhvi had actually made the Congress stand clear on the issue. Indirectly he was trying to suggest that AICC stood for lottery operators.
Pinarayi had even taken a dig at the Congress saying that any hunger strike or protest against lottery issue should be held before the AICC headquarters. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan wanted Congress president Sonia Gandhi to make her stand clear on the issue. Thomas Isaac had pointed out that Singhvi was just a small fry as union finance minister P Chidambaram and his wife had also supported lottery operators.
Those close to Damodaran said that another advocate who was to appear, had requested him to appear in the court. Moreover, the state government is not a party in the case. However, the opposition leaders alleged that it was totally wrong on the part of Damodaran to appear for Santiago Martin as a petition filed by the state government challenging his acquittal in 23 cases investigated by the CBI, was pending before the court.
While the Congress had taken a serious view and dropped Singhvi from the panel of spokespersons, the latter had maintained that he appeared in the case purely under personal capacity. However later Singhvi opted out of the case. So the big question is will the CPM take action against Damodaran for representing the lottery baron ?
