Ponnappan Pillai plays down ex-CPM leader’s charge


Former Udumbanchola block committee president and Congress leader Ponnappan Pillai on Wednesday said that he was not convinced by the charges made by former CPM leader P N Mohandas that Pillai was in the hit list of the CPM in Idukki.


Responding to the allegations that M M Mani and K K Jayachandran had planned to eliminate Ponnappan Pillai, the 82-year-old Congress leader told  that he had shared thick ties with leaders of all parties. Pillai said that he shared good relations with Jayachandran MLA even today. “Jayachandran calls me regularly,” Pillai said.


“Murders have taken place in the district in the past. But to link them with political murders is not justifiable,” he said. Pillai said that he used to travel in jeep all alone during odd hours through the most difficult terrains in Idukki and had never faced any threat to his life from any quarters. Pillai said that he had no acquaintance with Mohandas or CPM Idukki secretary M M Mani.


“The relationship between Congress and the CPM was not as bad as being described in the media. There were differences between trade unions of the parties, but the tiff was not so grim that led to situation where people eliminate others, Pillai, who was president of Senapathy panchayat in Idukki, said.

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