Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 20 (PTI) The issue of KPCC chief K Sudhakaran's allegedly derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was taken up in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday, prompting a response from Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan.
State Finance Minister K N Balagopal had raised the issue in the house during his reply to a notice seeking an adjournment motion. He referred to news reports that cited the remarks made by Sudhakaran.
Balagopal was replying to Congress MLA P C Vishnunath's statement that the Left leaders, including the chief minister, were arrogant.
"I would like to point out today's news report in which KPCC chief Sudhakaran is referring to the CM in a derogatory manner," Balagopal said, reading out the statement in the assembly.
On Wednesday, when reporters pointed to Vijayan's statement about an incident at the Kannur District Congress Committee (DCC) office in which crude bombs were allegedly displayed in front of the media, in the distant past, Sudhakaran had called the CM "stupid".
Sudhakaran had also rhetorically asked how many people he (Vijayan) had killed by hurling bombs and shooting down.
In the house, Balagopal said that Sudhakaran's remarks were not surprising when compared with what he had earlier called his own colleague in the Congress, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan.
Balagopal was referring to the allegedly abusive remarks that Sudhakaran had earlier made against Satheesan.
In a bid to counter the latest allegations against Sudhakaran and to make a point about the chief minister's own inappropriate conduct, Satheesan responded to the finance minister's statement by pointing out to recent remarks made by Vijayan, in which he called a priest "ignorant" for criticising the ruling Left for its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
He, however, added that everyone should use words carefully.
"Your chief minister recently called a priest ignorant. Many of the words he used are unparliamentary. I don't want to use those words in the assembly. None of the MLAs came out in support of the CM. Yes, in our opinion, it's in everyone's interest that all should use words carefully," Satheesan said.