Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who has been riding a media wave for the last five years and during this poll campaign, on Friday spit fire at his ‘benefactors,’ so to say.
Isolated within the CPI(M), the Chief Minister had assiduously courted journalists during his rule, even siding with them when the official faction in the party alleged that a “media syndicate” was working in the state against the party.
However, he was at his acerbic worst on Friday, accusing sections of media of behaving like “quotation gangs” (slang for hired goons in Kerala).
The trigger for his sudden vitriol was perhaps the media widely publicising his comment against Lathika Subhash, his rival woman candidate in Malampuzha.
He had said the rival candidate, Ms Lathika Subash, was famous and asked journalists to probe reasons for her fame.
The media had gone to town with his comment, seeking reactions from women in all sections of society. Most of the comments were hostile.
Mr Achuthanandan reminded the media that it was raining lies, flouting all canons of ethics, but added that this would not affect the LDF which he was leading.
“hey should not underestimate readers,” he said. “The readers will dismiss them with contempt. What they do contradicts the basic principles of journalism. Writing in favour of vested interests of some, they have become henchmen.”
Adopting a sarcastic tone, he also requested owners of newspapers not to be tempted to drink poison and kill themselves when the Left Democratic Front returns to power in the state.
“That is my request,” he said while talking to reporters in Kochi.
Mr Achuthanandan’s ‘suicide’ quip was a sly reminder of the alleged promise made by a veteran editor of yesteryear that he would consume poison if Communists were voted to power in Kerala.