Kodiyeri Balakrishnan wants Sonia Gandhi to intervene, oust M Vincent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Monday asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to intervene to get the resignation of Kovalam MLA M. Vincent who is facing rape charges. In a Facebook post, he said the Congress high command should make its stand clear on the issue. The Congress leadership should uphold women safety and justice to the victim, he said. “We can only sympathise with the KPCC president M.M. Hassan who has become an advocate of the MLA accused of raping a homemaker. It is perhaps for the first time in the history of Indian National Congress in Kerala that a sitting MLA has been arrested on rape charges,” he said.

Mr Kodiyeri criticised Mr Hassan for convening a press conference to declare that Mr Vincent need not resign. “It is a dark moment in the history of the state,” he said and added that his stand will be used by his rivals within the party to portray him as protector of rapists. The Congress should not have hit such a low. He said Mr Hassan's statement that the case was politically motivated was baseless. The police had acted on the complaint filed by the woman. By making such statements, Mr Hassan was lowering the status of KPCC president’s post, he said.