By IANS
Coimbatore/Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala politician Abdul Nasser Mahdhani, acquitted in the 1998 Coimbatore serial bombings case and released from a Coimbatore jail Wednesday, arrived in the city of Kochi where the two main rival political fronts immediately hailed his acquittal.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief was released on condition that he left Coimbatore immediately. He is expected to fly from Kochi to the capital Thiruvananthapuram Thursday.
Mahdhani drove out of the jail compound at around 8 p.m. and was greeted by hundreds of slogan-shouting supporters. Mahdani stopped the car and waved to the crowd.
Then, standing by the car's door, he said: "I am thankful to all the human rights groups of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the people of Kerala who supported me. I commit myself to working for Keralites the rest of my life. If I committed any mistake in the past I assure you that I will act more responsibly …"
Mahdhani said he will address the press once he reaches Thiruvananthapuram.
The Feb 14, 1998 blasts had taken place while BJP leader L.K.Advani was on an election tour of Coimbatore. It left 58 people dead and 250 injured.
While the two main rival political fronts in Kerala welcomed his acquittal, Bharatiya Janata Party leader O. Rajagopal said: "The political hypocrisy of both the rivals (Left and the United Democratic Front) stands exposed after we heard them expressing happiness over Mahdhani's acquittal."
"The Left government in Kerala had arrested Mahdhani in 1998 and the UDF has been subsequently shouting from the roof tops of the injustice meted out to him. The court has followed the case on the basis of the evidence, and it is here that we feel there has been some foul play. Both the fronts (Left and UDF) have deceived the people," he said.
Poonthura Siraj, working president of the PDP, said: "Mahdhani, who is ailing, will be taken to a private hospital here for treatment."
Siraj, who was in Coimbatore to meet his leader, said that their prime concern now was to get Mahdhani back to good health.
"He has been suffering in the last nearly nine-and-a-half years that he was in Coimbatore jail. He has lost over 50 kg. We are also concerned about his security," he said.
Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Mahdhani would be given protection when he arrived in the state.
Mahdhani's release has come as a major relief to authorities in Kerala who had launched a massive security drive ahead of the verdict.
Now all eyes are on the political stand that Mahdhani takes – he had directed his followers to vote for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the 2006 assembly polls.
However, Mahdhani still has 18 other cases registered against him in various courts in Kerala, though all these cases have by now been transferred to the court of an additional chief judicial magistrate in Kochi.