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R Balakrishna Pillai, who belongs to Kerala Congress-B -- part of the ruling United Democratic Front -- has been charged under section 153 of the Indian Penal Code for causing 'disruption to peace and tranquillity' through a provocative speech.
In a rally organised by the People's Democratic Party on October 31 in Thiruvananthapuram, Pillai reportedly criticised Chief Minister A K Antony and his government for its failure to initiate steps to secure the release of PDP chairman Abdul Nassar Madhani.
Madhani has been in the jail for the past four-and-a-half years in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blasts case.
Bharatiya Janata Party legal cell convenor K R Haridas filed a petition saying that Pillai's speech had incited the PDP activists, numbering about 10,000, to go on a rampage before the Kerala secretariat.
Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate N J Jose, who considered the petition, directed the police to register the case.
In the meantime, the UDF discussed Pillai's speech at its liaison committee meeting held at Kovalam on Monday and sought his explanation at its next meeting on November 22.
Several UDF leaders, including Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Muralidharan, had demanded his expulsion from the ruling coalition.
But senior Congress leader K Karunakaran, who is Muralidharan's father, along with other ministers came to Pillai's rescue.
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