The controversial attack on actor Joju George during a Congress protest in Kochi against fuel hike figured in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan to explain why Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran had portrayed Mr. George as a drunk wrongdoer.
Mr. Vijayan asked the United Democratic Front (UDF): “Did Mr. Sudhakaran bother to find out the facts? He reacted without enquiring what transpired.”
Mr. Satheesan said Mr. Vijayan, as CM, should enquire under what circumstances Mr. Sudhakaran was constrained to make such a statement. The police had told Congress workers that the actor was inebriated, and they conveyed the information to the KPCC president.
“If the actor had behaved similarly at a CPI(M) protest, there would be a condolence meeting next day,” Mr. Satheesan said.
‘BJP accent’
Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal said that nothing had happened to a woman who protested CPI(M) workers laying siege to the road leading to the Cliff House compound when Congress leader Oommen Chandy was in power. In Kerala, the Congress spoke with a BJP accent, he said.
On Monday, Mr. George got embroiled in an altercation with Congress workers who had blocked the arterial national highway bypass at Vyttila.
In the melee, suspected Congress workers smashed the windscreen of his car and injured him. A blood alcohol test at a local hospital, however, proved the actor was not alcohol-impaired.
