Notice issued over Tharoor poll plea

Senior CPM leaders have come to the rescue of the two Left front leaders.

District Collector Biju Prabhakar has issued show cause notices to two Left front leaders for making alleged defamatory remarks against Congress candidate in Trivandrum Lok Sabha constituency and Federal Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor.

The action came on the complaint lodged by Tharoor to the Chief Electoral Officer against M. Vijayakumar, state committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator V.S. Sunil Kumar. Tharoor contended that Vijayakumar’s remark that he had a doctorate in violence against women in a public function in the state capital on Wednesday and Sunil Kumar’s direct accusation that he was a murderer in a television discussion on the previous day were violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Tharoor, who is locked in a tight triangular contest, had also demanded action against the channel in which the CPI MLA held him responsible for the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar and the Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha for putting up hoardings showing him garlanded with “chapels” and being beaten by women.

Vijayakumar, a former minister, has defended himself saying that his statement was based on the apprehensions being raised in the public about the mystery behind the death of Sunanda at a hotel in New Delhi two months ago.

Senior CPM leaders have come to the rescue of the two Left front leaders. Party politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that it was natural for parties to discuss all the issues concerning a candidate. He said there was nothing unusual in Vijayakumar’s remarks.

Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan said action was required not against those who are discussing the death but Tharoor himself. He argued that the Indian Penal Code providing for action against a man in the event of the unnatural death of his wife within seven years of marriage was applicable in the case of the Congress candidate.

Achuthanandan urged Defence Minister A.K. Antony and other senior leaders, who have defended Tharoor, to explain why the law did not take its course in the case of Tharoor. He said that the people in Kerala were keen to know the facts in the case.

Terming the personal attack on their candidates as part of a desperate move by the Left Democratic Front to gain extra votes, the Congress has warned partymen not to indulge in character assassination of rival candidates.

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