Kerala BJP chief slams Satheesan over detention

Keralam BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday accused Chief Minister VD Satheesan of trying to distract Keralam people with “fake protests about democracy” while his administration was allegedly violating law and fundamental rights through its actions against Thiruvananthapuram Corporation councillor R Sugathan.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s protests against CEC Gyanesh Kumar as a “fraud drama,” the BJP leader alleged.

Chandrasekhar’s ‘X’ post came in the wake of Satheesan’s participation in the agitation in Delhi against the CEC and his social media posts criticising the detention of Rahul Gandhi during the protest.

The CM on Wednesday said that the FIR against Gandhi for questioning electoral integrity is an “attack” on democratic dissent. He also said, “The fight against irregularities in the electoral rolls and for free and fair elections continues. Democracy will not be silenced.”

Replying to the CM, Chandrasekhar said, “To CM @vdsatheesan, don’t waste your time and try to distract Malayalees with your fake protestations about democracy, secularism and the constitution when your administration is covering itself with violations of law, justice and fundamental rights.”

The BJP MLA from Nemom was referring to the preventive detention of BJP councillor, Sugathan, who was recently set free on orders of the Kerala High Court.

Chandrasekhar alleged that Sugathan’s detention was “a deliberate, planned, criminal conspiracy by the Pinarayi Vijayan and V D Satheesan governments who used and weaponised the Kerala Antisocial Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA) advisory board, a district collector and the police.”

He also said, “Even as @RahulGandhi does his fraud drama in Delhi, here in Keralam, a real case of violation of constitutional rights of a democratically elected councillor Sugathan needs accountability.”

There was no immediate response to the accusations and allegations from the CM or his office.

Continuing his attack on the CM, Chandrasekhar said that it has been 142 days since the UDF government came to power promising a ‘Puthu Yuga (new age) Keralam’ and five Indira guarantees.

“142 days later -- zero is what he has delivered on those promises. Instead, what we have is power cuts, medicine shortages and misuse of police, etc. There are 142 reasons for him to go, but most importantly, his party president @kharge has termed him as illegally elected and asked for his resignation. So will you listen to Kharge saheb, Mr CM and resign?” the BJP state president asked in another X post.

The BJP leader was referring to a recent Congress social media post in Hindi in which party president Mallikarjun Kharge is quoted as saying that “illegal elections are being held in the country, Narendra Modi is an illegal PM, Amit Shah is an illegal Home Minister...”.