Kerala minister denies snooping on legislators

The Kerala Police was not engaged in snooping on any legislator, said a Kerala minister.

Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in a statement here on Wednesday said the news about police snooping on legislators is baseless.

"There have been reports attributed to the ruling UDF convenor P.P. Thankachen stating that he said this while speaking to a TV channel. Thankachen himself has denied this. Moreover, no wing of the police department has done this at all," said Chennithala.

Earlier, Thankachen in an interview to a TV channel had casually mentioned that there is the intelligence wing of the police and it is their job to be on the lookout for any sort of political developments as all governments do this.

Thankachen's remark had created a furore.

Soon, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) latched on to his remark and attacked the Oommen Chandy government for engaging in snooping activities.

Ever since the Chandy government assumed office after the 2011 assembly polls, it has been precariously placed in the 140-member Kerala assembly and even now it is skating on a wafer thin majority.

When its term began the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had 72 legislators while the Left opposition had 68 members.

One reason why Thankachen's casual remark has evoked such interest is that the Left has been trying to woo back the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and a section of the erstwhile Janata Dal (Secular) which were part of the Left bandwagon.

Together, they have five legislators and if they decide to cross over, then the nearly four-year-old Chandy government will collapse.