Kochi: The injury suffered by Communist Party of India (CPI) MLA Eldho Abraham during a protest march Tuesday is becoming a major issue within the party as well as the Left government.
Conflicting reports on Abraham’s injury have put a question mark on the inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister. Many CPI leaders are also unhappy with party state secretary Kanam Rajendran for failing to take up the matter. The CPI is the second biggest ally of the ruling Left government in the state. It has four ministers in the cabinet.
Abraham suffered the injury when police thrashed him and two other senior CPI leaders Tuesday during a protest march in Kochi. Since the police beating, Abraham is seen moving around with his left hand in a plaster.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ordered a magisterial probe by the Ernakulam District Collector. The report will be submitted Monday. The police submitted a detailed medical report to the Collector Saturday morning. Details of the report, which have surfaced in the media, said that there was no fracture on Abraham’s left hand.
However, the CPI Ernakulam leadership and Abraham himself have said that they have a report from the Ernakulam district hospital which says that he has a fractured hand.
The party’s Ernakulam district secretary P. Raju, who also suffered an injury on his head following the use of force by the police, said, “We have the report of the Ernakulam district hospital and it says he has a fracture.”
Eldho Abraham said, “All know that the police often have the tendency to file false reports and I know what has happened to me.”
But it is state secretary Kanam Rajendran’s silence that has come as a surprise. He refuted media reports Saturday linking his son’s alleged intervention in certain issues of governance as the reason for his silence. “My son did not become an adult recently. He has been one for a long while. Vested interests are behind this because there has been no complaint at all against him all this while,” said Rajendran, when asked about his son’s alleged wheeler-dealer role.
On the injury of Abraham, Rajendran said, “I did meet him and there is no doubt that Abraham had come under attack and now let us wait for the Collector’s report.”