Governor asks CM to take action on Basheer issue

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor H R Bharadwaj asked Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to take 'appropriate action' on the basis of a memorandum received from the opposition that a ruling party MLA, whose name figured as an accused in the Areekode twin murder case, was allowed to participate in the Assembly proceedings. Leader of the opposition V S Achuthanandan and other leaders met the Governor to press for action against P K Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second largest constituent of the ruling coalition.


Sources in the office of the leader of the opposition told reporters that Achuthanandan had received a copy of the letter sent to the Chief Minister. In the letter, the Governor said he had received a memorandum from the opposition regarding the issues involving Basheer. 'I request the Chief Minister to offer his comments as early as possible and take appropriate action,' the Governor added. The opposition submitted the memorandum to the governor, after disrupting the proceedings of the state Assembly for the fourth consecutive day.

Basheer has been booked for allegedly inciting the murder of two people on Sunday night. The killings are being seen as a retaliatory strike for the murder of Muslim League party worker Ateeq Rehman in January. The police registered the case after the family of one of the victims filed a complaint alleging that the MLA had openly issued a threat saying he would avenge Ateeq Rehman's death.