Thiruvananthapuram, May 13 (IANS) A day after the house of top Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader K.S. Hariharan was attacked with explosives at Vadakara in Kozhikode district, the leader of opposition in Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheesan, on Monday accused CPI-M district secretary P. Mohanan as the prime suspect in the case.

On Sunday night, an unidentified gang allegedly attacked the house of Hariharan after the RMP leader courted controversy by making a sexist remark against senior CPI-M leader K. K. Shailaja and leading film actress Manju Warrier.

The RMP leader had apologised for the remarks hours after his speech triggered a row on Saturday night.

The police have registered two different cases over the attack and implicated six (all unnamed) activists of the CPI-M and its youth wing.

Satheesan said on Monday that after Hariharan expressed deep regret and apologised for his remarks, what happened on Sunday night at his house was a grave issue.

“The statement of CPI-M Kozhikode secretary (Mohanan) that 'even if Hariharan apologised, he will not be forgiven' is a clear call to unleash an attack on Hariharan. Hence the first accused in this attack case should be the CPI-M district secretary,” said Satheesan.

“We all know how after issuing a threat, RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan was brutally eliminated by the CPI-M. It needn’t try to finish their political adversaries in the same manner,” said Satheesan, adding that the UDF will go to any extent to prevent the CPI-M from putting the RMP leaders under any sort of duress.

The attack on Hariharan’s house on Sunday night is believed to be a fallout of his alleged sexist remarks against K.K. Shailaja and Malayalam actress Manju Warrier, which he made during a public speech at his hometown Vadakara.

After the Congress-led UDF and the RMP leadership disapproved of the remarks, Hariharan quickly expressed deep regret over his speech.

But with the CPI-M and all its feeder organisations expressing their ire, the local police registered a case against Hariharan based on a complaint filed by the women’s wing of the CPI-M.

At Vadakara, often considered a strong bastion of the CPI-M, things have not gone well after the brutal murder of Chandrasekheran in 2012.

The CPI-M lost the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and 2019 to the Congress, while Chandrasekheran’s widow K.K. Rema won the 2021 Assembly polls from Vadakara on an RMP ticket with the support of the Congress-led UDF.