Come clean on charge against minister, VS to Chandy

: CPI(M) veteran and Kerala Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan today asked Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to break his silence over Government Chief Whip P C George's charge that state Forest Minister K B Ganesh Kumar was recently beaten up by the husband of a lady with whom he had an affair.
"This is a serious allegation.George has claimed that the Chief Minister is aware of the details.So Chandy should break his silence and spell out his stand on the issue," he said in a statement here.
Causing deep embarrassment to the ruling Congress-led UDF, George had yesterday cast Forest Minister K B Ganesh Kumar in poor light seizing on a newspaper report that a cabinet minister was beaten up by the husband of a lady with whom he had an affair.

Referring to a report in a Malayalam daily without naming the minister, George, who belongs to Kerala Congress (M), had said Kumar was the person mentioned and he was revealing this to ensure the public would not suspect other cabinet members.
Actor-turned-politician Kumar, who belongs to Kerala Congress(B), had said he would sue George for his baseless charge.He also asserted that no such incident had occurred and it was painful to see the chief whip stooping to such a level.
"Ever since George has differences with me on the issue of settlers in the forest land at Nelliyampathy, he has been targeting me," Kumar said.

Asked whether his father and Kerala Congress-B leader R Balakrishna Pillai had any role in casting him in poor light, Kumar said the ultimate aim of his father and George was his removal from the ministry.

Pillai, chairman of Kerala Congress (B),has for long been pressing for Kumar's removal from the cabinet, despite his son being the lone legislator of the party.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) state secretariat also demanded that Chandy make public all details of the issue and take further steps on it.
"If George is telling the truth, then action should be taken against him. On the other hand, if George's allegation is baseless, he should be removed from the post of chief whip", a CPI(M) statement said.