Thiruvananthapuram, May 19: Kerala Chief Minister and senior CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan today downplayed criticism that he was “not protecting” his cabinet colleagues, though holding the highest executive post in the state.
“Some baseless media reports are coming out with these kind of allegations. I am not taking them seriously”, he told reporters to a question during a cabinet briefing.
He was answering a query that CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, considered his bete noire, had levelled such a charge at a function at Kannur.
At the function, organised in memory of former Chief Minister and veteran CPI(M) leader E K Nayanar, Vijayan had reportedly stated that Nayanar had always protected his cabinet colleagues and won the admiration of all and that he was a role model for all Communists to follow.
Achuthanandan has been at loggerheads with the official faction in the CPI-M, led by Vijayan.
–PTI