V S Achuthanandan taunts Congress leader K Muraleedharan kinginikuttan'

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader K Muraleedharan, who initiated the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the Assembly on Wednesday, attacked Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan for his below-the-belt remarks against the CM’s family, drawing an immediate retort from the latter, calling Mr Muraleedharan a “kinginikuttan”.

Mr Muraleedharan was speaking after Speaker N Sakthan disallowed the Opposition notice for an adjournment motion against alleged attempts to sabotage the bar bribery probe against Excise Minister K Babu. In protest, Opposition members disrupted the house for the second consecutive day.

Mr Muraleedharan attacked the opposition for taking up allegations leveled by those with tainted and criminal background. “Having adopted such tactics, the LDF will have to sit in the opposition for the next five years too,” he said.

In a tit for tat to Mr Achuthanandan’s broadside against Mr Chandy the previous day, Mr Muraleedharan reminded him that he should uphold the august office he occupied. “Remember you occupy a seat previously held by stalwarts like E M S Namboodiripad and E K Nayanar. You should feel ashamed to be sitting there. Have we ever heard anything better from the Opposition leader during all these years”, wondered Mr Muraleedharan.

After the session was adjourned, Mr Achuthanandan told reporters outside the house that the kinginikuttan was fielded by the treasury benches to carry on a harangue “against us in the house”. “I had only stated what Saritha Nair had deposed before Solar commission (against CM’s family)”, said Mr Achuthanandan.