By IANS
Kottayam (Kerala) : Unruly scenes, beating up of some supporters of Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and an alleged bottle throwing at the dais marred the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) rally at the end of the four-day state party conference here Thursday.
Volunteers of the party manhandled a section of the crowd which was shouting slogans in support of the 83-year-old chief minister.
Achuthanandan’s arch foe and state unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan abruptly cancelled the rally half way through, saying an empty liquor bottle was thrown at the dais.
A sudden downpour as Achuthanandan began to address the rally added to the chaos.
As soon as Achuthanandan ended the speech after a few minutes, Vijayan came to the podium and admonished a noisy section in the crowd, which was dancing.
“Don’t forget that you are all communists and all of you have to maintain a decorum which is the hall mark of the communists. It is very unfortunate that a bottle was thrown on the dais,” said an angry Vijayan.
“This is not a programme of (singer) Usha Uthup. The excitement is understandable but a discipline has to be there. Do you think you can do anything? There has to be a limit. Some unscrupulous elements have crept in and have created problems.”
“This is most unfortunate that this happened. Due to bad weather, even though many more leaders are to speak, the meeting has been called off,” a visibly disturbed Vijayan announced.
It was not clear whether CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, who also addressed the rally, was on the dais when the bottle was thrown.