While the CPM officially claims that the case against its leaders in the murder of rebel leader T P Chandrasekharan is politically motivated,a senior leader of the party in Kerala has said that the party has a history of murdering its political enemies and would continue to do so if required. State committee member and Idukki district secretary M M Mani lamented that the party could not take revenge on all its rivals. Addressing a party function on Friday,the Pinarayi Vijayan faction leader said the CPM would kill those who deserve to be killed. Recalling some of the murders in his Idukki district in the past,Mani said the party had finished off rivals in Kerala. At Shanthanpara village in Idukki in 1982,the party had prepared a list of 13 persons to be killed after a CPM worker was killed. The first person on the list was shot to death. The second was stabbed to death and the third was beaten to death. By then,worried Congress workers escaped. Then home minister Vayalar Ravi was useless. Mani said congress worker Balans murder was a revenge for the death of local CPM leader Ayyappadas. We have a habit of killing and get killed. So do not try to threaten the CPM. Those who work against the party would be eradicated again. The party does not have any qualm in owning up the murders it had committed, he said. On Saturday,Mani stuck to what he had said in the public meeting. It is true that we had killed some persons as a result of resistance. Following Manis revelation,Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said legal action would be initiated against the culprits. DGP Jacob Punnose asked the Idukki district police superintendent to look into the incidents Mani mentioned to explore the chances of reopening the cases.
