Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 11 (PTI) Senior Congress leaders on Saturday slammed the alleged police assault on party MP Shafi Parambil, stating that it was an attempt to divert public attention from the irregularities in the assets of the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan and senior Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, M K Raghavan and Mullappally Ramachandran also criticised the "brutal assault" on Parambil at Perambra in Kozhikode district on Friday.

Venugopal termed the action as an "escape tactic" of the CPI(M) to avoid the backlash from the Sabarimala issue.

He said before the media that what happened in Sabarimala was the "biggest loot in Kerala".

Satheesan alleged,

See Full Page