Pinarayi Vijayan’s angry brush with the media

Kochi, Nov 17 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday had an angry brush with the media, literally.

When accosted by TV media personnel who approached him for a sound byte on the war of words between the ruling partners -- the CPI-M and CPI, Vijayan lost his cool.

As Vijayan, who had arrived here to attend a party meeting, got out of the car and moved towards the meeting venue, media people approached him after spotting a smile on his face. They asked him for reactions to the sparring between the CPI-M and CPI leaders, which has hit headlines, due to the resignation drama of state Transport Minister Thomas Chandy.

As he was moving forward, in the rush, the mike of one of the TV channels brushed against Vijayan. The Chief Minister angrily told the media to move out of the way.

After his angry outburst and shooing away the media, Vijayan then turned his ire against a police official.

This is not the first time that Vijayan has had an angry brush with the media. On July 31 in the state capital the Chief Minister had rudely asked the media to get out of a meeting venue.

Vijayan is not known to be friendly towards the media, in contrast to his arch rival V.S. Achuthanandan, who became the darling of the media during his stint as Chief Minister between 2006-11. At the time, Vijayan had even gone to the extent of calling a section of the media in the state capital as a syndicate.

Speaking to IANS, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala described Vijayan's behaviour as "nothing but intolerance".

"We fail to understand why he (Vijayan) is behaving like this, it does not augur well," said Chennithala.