Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday slammed Opposition leader VD Satheesan for his outrageous outbursts and baseless allegations raised against him Launching a scathing attack on Satheesan, Mr Vijayan said: “The man seems to have lost his sanity.

He is not able to acknowledge the success of the Nava Kerala Sadas programme. He is resorting to cheap politics and raising baseless allegation.” He was reacting to Mr Satheesan’s criticism on Wednesday against the Chief Minister stating that Pinarayi Vijayan is still the criminal he used to be. “Personal insults and abusive language against me would not retard the momentum of the programme. People are at the venues by seven in the morning to directly present their needs to the Cabinet.

They leave the venue feeling gratified,” Mr Vijayan told media persons in Wayanad, referring to the state government’s outreach programme, Nava Kerala Sadas. Mr Vijayan accused the Congress leadership of sanctioning a vilification campaign to belittle him. “VD Satheesan’s tone and language have taken a turn for the worse. Is it of his own volition, or is the Opposition leader receiving the wrong advice?” Mr Vijayan asked. “The insinuation had scarce effect on me since I was born to a proper and caring father,” he said. In a scathing attack on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Opposition leader V D Satheesan on Wednesday said that the former is a criminal.

“He is a criminal. His old traits are still with him,” Mr Satheesan said, apparently referring to Mr Vijayan’s alleged involvement in cases of political violence in the past. Mr Satheesan targeted CM Vijayan personally in response to the latter’s remarks on an attack by DYFI workers on the Youth Congress activists who waved black flags at him in Kannur. Mr Vijayan has the other day termed the attack on Youth Congress workers as an exemplary rescue work by DYFI.

Mr Vijayan on Thursday once again reiterated his earlier stance and defended the acts of DYFI workers in Kannur who engaged in a tussle with Youth Congress workers. “See I don’t support any sort of violence. In that particular situation, I think the DYFI workers actually saved the lives of Youth Congress protesters. Otherwise, they would have been hit by the bus,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr Satheesan told media persons in Kozhikode on Thursday that Mr Vijayan’s barefaced defence of DYFI workers “who unleashed wanton violence on Youth Congress black flag demonstrators in Kannur on Tuesday, had compelled him to speak harshly