BJP asks Chandy explain meeting with Maudany's aide : India

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 12 - The Bharatiya Janata Party - Tuesday asked Congress leader and former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy to reveal why he had met Poonthura Siraj, the close aide of Peoples Democratic Party - chairman Abdul Nazir Maudany.

V.Muraleedharan, who took over as the BJP's state unit chief last week, raised this issue in his first interaction with mediapersons here Tueday.

'This meeting took place in Chandy's home town Kottayam day before yesterday -. Since Maudany and his wife are under a cloud, it is imperative that Chandy come out with what transpired between them because the National Investigation Agency is now investigating into a few cases in Kerala,' Muraleedharan said.

Maudany's wife Sufiya was arrested last month after she was indicted as an accused in the 2005 Kalamassery bus burning case. This is one of the cases now being investigated by the NIA.

The prime accused in the case is T.Nazeer, the self-styled south India chief of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba -, who is also an accused in the 2005 Bangalore bomb blast. He is now in the custody of the Bangalore police after he was picked up last year by the police near the Meghalaya border.

Muraleedharan said they wanted to know what had transpired at te meeting betwen Chandy and Siraj.

'We wish to know what the deal was, was it that the PDP pledged support to the Congress in the local bodies poll to be held in six months time and the assembly polls to be held next year? If that is the case, what was the assurance that Chandy gave to Siraj?' he asked.

Asked his response, Chandy told IANS that he will reveal all once he comes to know for himself what exactly the BJP leader had said.