Thiruvananthapuram: CPM State Secretary M V Govindan on Friday slammed the media for spreading false information about Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"Only the photograph of the Chief Minister is a fact these days. The news published is baseless. This is a careful attempt to create a smokescreen against the CM. This will continue till the elections," Govindan said.

He added that the case against the CM's daughter Veena Vijayan was politically motivated. "The party will not protect Veena. But then she does not need protection either," he said.

Govindan also said that the Opposition's decision to stay away from the CPM strike against central government was unfortunate.
"The Congress is not with the people. There is no consensus on the topic within the party," he added.  The LDF has announced that a strike will be held under the leadership of  Kerala CM in New Delhi on February 8. 

Govindan defends Chitra
The CPM leader also criticised cyberbullies for unnecessarily dragging playback singer K S Chitra into a controversy. "Chitra is a national asset. The public is free to disagree with her if she criticises anyone but the singer should not be singled out for her opinion," he said.

Chithra had come under cyber attack after she urged the faithful to recite Ram mantra and light a five-wick lamp at their houses on the day of Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya on January 22 in a video.

"Even when the controversy arose regarding Sobhana's participation in a BJP event, I made my position clear. Shobhana is a prominent dancer and actress in India. They are our country's asset. No one should put them in a certain box. Yet, everyone has the right to speak critically about their stance," he said.

"Don't we love Mohanlal, Mammootty and others from the film industry? If we take the field of literature, we all respect and admire T Padmanabhan, M T (Vasudevan Nair), M Mukundan... We don't need to reject all of them because of their comments or stance," Govindan added.