V.S. Achuthanandan offers to quit, party says wait

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Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan, who proposed to quit in the wake of the FIR in the land allotment case against him, said on Friday he would not hang on to technicalities but take an appropriate decision if the vigilance charge-sheeted him in another three months.

He told mediapersons that the Oommen Chandy Government should realize that mafia and corrupt elements could not stop his fight against corruption and sex racket cases.

“I was fully aware that my fight against the mafia will invite such cases and threats,’’ he added.
Earlier in the day, Mr . Achuthanandan sent a fax to the central leadership stating that he would not like to continue in office even for a minute.

However, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and politburo member Sitaram Yechury advised Mr. Achuthanandan against taking any hasty decision.

“The mafia believes that by filing a false case they will succeed in silencing me. It’s their wishful thinking. I will continue my fight till the last breath of my life.

I don’t need to follow Thiruvanchoor’s moral values wherein corrupt ministers cling to power shamelessly. I will resign if they file the charge sheet. I have conveyed my decision to the central leadership,’’ Mr Achuthanandan added.

Launching a frontal attack on the UDF he said, “The investigation agency is under tremendous pressure. P.K. Kunhalikutty, K.B. Ganesh Kumar and Balakrishna Pillai are speaking against me in the same tone and this clearly indicates that there is a conspiracy.

What can one expect when People who even bribed judges in sex racket cases, are leading the Government. Even the IPS officers must have been given some benefits to frame me,’’ he said.

On the allotment of land he said that the decision was taken by the cabinet and when a flaw was pointed out the official order was withheld and the matter sent for legal scrutiny.

“Soman happens to be my relative and that’s why the government has registered the case,’’ he added.

i was a mere postman: sheela

Ms. Sheela Thomas, the former principal secretary to the Chief Minister and fourth accused in the land case against Mr.V.S. Achuthanandan, says she was “more or less a postman.”

“I am yet to get details of findings by the Vigilance against me. Anyway, to the best of my knowledge I did not do any thing illegal. My role at the CM's office was more or less that of a postman”, Ms Thomas, the Rubber Board chairman, told Deccan Chronicle on Friday.