Unfazed by criminal charges against him over his controversial speech about the party eliminating its foes in the past, Communist Party of India - Marxist Idukki district secretary M M Mani on Sunday said the party would resist the "politically motivated" moves of the United Democratic Front government to frame him in a criminal case.
Reacting to Mani's defiant posture, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the stand of the CPI-M leader amounted to challenging the rule of law.
After avoiding the media for the last few days since the police registered a case against him, an assertive Mani said after a district committee meeting of the party that he would face the case "foisted" on him legally and politically.
Mani also hit back at Bharatiya Janata Paty leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for criticising the CPI-M, picking on his speech made at Thodupuzha last week.
"Modi has no moral right to criticise me....," he said.
Even as Mani assumed a strident posture, the uneasiness in the Left Democratic Front came to the fore with Communist Party of India state secretary Panniyan Raveendran voicing serious reservations over Mani's utterances.
"A communist is a humanist. A communist cannot say that a list of enemies can be prepared and go on killing them one by one," the CPI leader told a television channel.
In a rejoinder to Raveendran's remarks, Mani said the CPI need not meddle in the CPI-M's affairs.
Mani also refuted reports in a section of media that he had gone in hiding after the police registered a case against him. On the notice issued by a Special Investigation Team probing the case asking him to appear before them on June 6, he said a decision would be taken after consulting legal experts.
The police had registered a case against Mani last week on charges of murder, abetment and concealing information based on his speech at Thodupuzha.
