Pinarayi Vijayan reacts to IndiGo’s flight ban on EP Jayarajan. (file)
Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday rejected the opposition’s demand for legal action against former minister EP Jayarajan in an incident related to a Youth Congress protest inside a plane last month, saying the LDF convener was actually the attackers. Protecting CM from
Responding to a submission made by Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan, Mr Vijayan said the investigation indicated that Youth Congress workers, including its top leadership, conspired to create the incident.
In a detailed reply, Mr Vijayan also attacked airline company IndiGo, which on Monday imposed a flight ban on Mr Jayarajan and two Youth Congress workers in connection with protests on a plane carrying the state’s chief minister last month.
Mr Vijayan told the Assembly that there are allegations that the order of IndiGo’s Internal Complaints Committee was unilateral and the order itself says that it was a unilateral order.
“There are allegations that the IndiGo company has taken a stand in support of the accused in the case. IndiGo’s failure to provide safety and security to its passengers and to take a stand in favor of the attackers actually threatens the safety of air travel. ” Mr Vijayan said.
Presenting the arguments, Satheesan asked the chief minister to register a case against Jayarajan for allegedly assaulting Youth Congress workers.
“Our children (Youth Congress workers) raised slogans but Jayarajan attacked them. The IndiGo company understood this and gave Jayarajan a higher punishment,” Mr. Satheesan said.
A three-week travel ban has been imposed on Jayarajan and two Youth Congress workers, Farzeen Majid and Naveen Kumar, for two weeks each by the private airliner.
The decision of the country’s largest airline came a month after the June 13 incident, when two protesters raised slogans against the chief minister inside an IndiGo plane when it landed at the Thiruvananthapuram airport from Kannur. Jayarajan on board the ship allegedly pushed back two protesters from reaching Vijayan.
Vijayan replied to Satheesan, “They are not children. There are 19 cases against one of the accused Youth Congress worker.” He said that the top leadership of Youth Congress conspired in this act.
“Investigation indicates that Youth Congress workers planned to carry out such incident. They used the official WhatsApp group of Youth Congress and a former MLA, who is now State office bearer of Youth Congress, to hatch the conspiracy. , suggested that two people travel in the same flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram and show black flags. Subsequently, they found a sponsor and booked three tickets for Rs 13,000,” Vijayan told the assembly.
Pinarayi Vijayan said Mr. Jayarajan was actually trying to block the protesters from reaching the East.
“Despite protests from the air hostess, when the flight reached Thiruvananthapuram, the workers moved towards the CM. Fellow passengers were worried about the incident. At this point, former minister EP Jayarajan tried to stop the attackers who were forcing their way towards the chief minister. . ,” Mr. Vijayan said.
The chief minister also asked the opposition to “show a basic decency to condemn such acts instead of justifying them”.
On June 13, Youth Congress workers were protesting over allegations against the Chief Minister in a gold smuggling case.
According to Kerala Police, after last month’s incident, two protesters and another Youth Congress member were booked for attempt to murder.
The FIR by the police in Thiruvananthapuram states that due to political enmity, the three accused, Farzeen Majid, Naveen Kumar and Suneeth Kumar, hatched a conspiracy to assassinate the chief minister and boarded a flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram.
Police had said that a case was registered against three Youth Congress workers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120B (conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder) and 332 (to prevent public servant from performing his duty). voluntarily causing hurt). ,
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)