By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The CPI-M Monday demanded that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy act against state Minister of Forests and Cinema K.B. Ganesh Kumar who was allegedly beaten up by his lover’s husband.
In a statement here, the CPI-M said chief whip in the Kerala assembly P.C. George alleged Sunday that he came to know Feb 22 that Kumar was beaten up by the woman’s husband, but did not speak about it.
“If it is true, Kumar cannot continue as a minister,” said the statement.
“This came as a news report in a vernacular newspaper (Sunday), but it does not name the minister. The minister who got beaten up is Ganesh Kumar. I am naming him because I do not want to keep the other 19 ministers’ names under a cloud. Kumar should resign,” George said Sunday.
United Democratic Front (UDF) convenor P.P. Thankachen said he has received a complaint in this regard from Kumar and that the issue would be discussed at the party’s meeting Thursday.
Till recently, George and Kumar were friends. However, they fell out after Kumar took a tough stance on a forest land issue in Palakkad district.
Kumar is the lone legislator of the Kerala Congress (Pillai), founded by his father, veteran politician and former minister R. Balakrishna Pillai.
However, the father-son duo have not seen eye to eye for almost a year and Pillai has been asking Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to sack Kumar as he does not enjoy the confidence of the party.