Thiruvananthapuram: The state Congress chief K Sudhakaran MP has alleged that CPM decided not to place the mortal remains of its former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in Thiruvananthapuram for public to pay homage at the instance of the Chief Minister.
He said Pinarayi Vijayan denied the request of the deceased leader's family to allow the public to pay their respects at the state capital.
"Pinarayi gave more importance to his foreign tour than Kodiyeri. He was not ready to postpone the meeting with big businessmen as it was scheduled earlier," Sudhakaran alleged.
After Kodiyeri's funeral on October 3, 2022, Pinarayi flew abroad on October 4. "Pinarayi's foreign tour would have to be rescheduled if Kodiyeri’s mortal remains were placed in Thiruvananthapuram for the public to pay homage before the mourning procession. That is why all party conventions were broken and Kodiyeri was given a farewell that hurt the family and brought shame to the party," the KPCC president claimed.
On the occasion of his first death anniversary, Kodiyeri's wife Vinodini told Manorama Online that the family had requested the CPM to keep the veteran leader’s body in the state capital for the public to pay homage.
Kodiyeri's sons Binoy and Bineesh had told CPM state secretary M V Govindan about this at the Chennai hospital. The party's explanation was that the body was taken straight to Kannur as doctors had advised them to avoid long journeys.
Sudhakaran demanded a response from Pinarayi on the revelation.
Kodiyeri's body was taken directly from Chennai to Kannur and cremated, throwing all party traditions to the wind.
It took two days for AKG's body to reach Payyambalam from Thiruvananthapuram. The mortal remains of E K Nayanar and Chadayan Govindan were taken from Thiruvananthapuram to Payyambalam by receiving the respect of tens of thousands of people. Their last journey was in specially prepared KSRTC buses.
Sudhakaran pointed out that although mourning was observed following the passing away of all these leaders, the same didn’t happen in Kodiyeri's case.
