Row over Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's final adieu continues to rage

Thiruvananthapuram: The controversy over "denial" of a befitting adieu to CPI(M) politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has intensified with the journalist who quoted the late leader's wife calling it a "verbatim" report, while their son accused the reporter of "misquoting" his mother.

On the first death anniversary of the leader in Kannur early this week, a journalist Sujith Nair had interviewed Vinodhini Balakrishnan which appeared in a leading vernacular daily Malayala Manorama.

As per the report, Vinodhini Balakrishnan claimed that her two children had requested CPI(M) state secretary M.V.Govindan to take the mortal remains of their father to Thiruvananthapuram and then to their home town in Kannur, but that could not happen.

When Congress state president K.Sudhakaran made this an issue and started serious discussion, Bineesh Kodiyeri- the younger son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan - took to social media saying even after his death, his father is being haunted.

He accused the right wing media of attempting to distort his mother's statement calling it a strategy to lower the stock of the CPI(M) and its leaders. He requested the people to ignore the report as it’s "baseless".

Responding to the post, Nair took to his social media page saying after seeing Bineesh's response, he decided to leave it. "But I got calls from many asking about it as I did the interview of Vinodhini in my column ‘Crossfire’.

"I have the recording of my interview with her and have not said a word which she has not. She has not blamed anyone instead aired the wish of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and the family. It failed to happen and she expressed her helplessness on it," wrote Nair.

The issue would have passed off without a whimper had not Sudhakaran- the arch rival of the CPI(M) - raked it up by saying that Vinodhini’s remark proves that the party's statement that the doctor’s advice of taking the body straight to Kannur was a "bluff".

He went on to point out since Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, along with his family and an official delegation, was all set to fly out on October 4, 2022, he wanted to have the funeral on October 3. Had the body been brought from Chennai to Thiruvananthapuram, his plans would have gone awry.