Not scared by vigilance case against son: Achuthanandan

Veteran Communist leader V.S. Achuthanandan has said the "ploy" of Kerala Chief minister Oommen Chandy and vernacular daily Malayala Manorama -- an old vigilance case against his son -- "cannot keep me silent".

The 92-year-old leader and former chief minister in a statement issued on Monday said he was not like those who would be scared. He said he would continue to attack the "corrupt Chandy government" even as his son was targeted.

"The so-called case that has now surfaced which implicates my son V.A. Arunkumar took place in 2001 and since then both A.K. Antony and Chandy in the past had probed it. But found nothing," the veteran Marxist leader said.

"Now with less than six months left to go for the Chandy government, he along with Malayala Manorama - the daily - has come up with this again," he added.

He challanged the Kerala government to go ahead with any sort of probe in the case: "I am the least worried of it. The people of Kerala with contempt will ignore this devious ploy."

The case pertains to the veteran leader's son Arunkumar when he was the managing director of the state-owned Coirfed during the Left Democratic Front government's tenure 1996-2001 and is alleged to have been part of a corrupt deal to the tune of four million rupees.

Achuthanandan's statement comes at a time when the vigilance department has sought legal advice to prosecute his son in the corruption case.

"This government along with the daily Malayala Manorama tried to implicate me in a few non-existent cases, but they could not find anything against me. And now when they are caught in a few corruption cases, they are trying to deflect their wrong by raking up one against my son," he added.

Achuthanandan was the star campaigner in the local government bodies' polls, of which the first phase is taking place on Monday and the second is scheduled for Thursday.