Kerala CM asks media to leave from CPI(M)-RSS meeting

The meet was held in the backdrop of the violence following the slaying of an RSS worker near Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

As Vijayan reached the meeting venue, apparently on seeing a large contingent of electronic media persons occupying the room, he lost his composure and asked them to leave.

Just as the media persons were coming out, the chief minister asked the staff at the hotel, where the meeting was being held, why members of the fourth estate were allowed inside.

'Kadakku Purathu (just leave)', the chief minister said tersely to the media.

Only after they had left the venue, did he enter the meeting hall.

After the meeting, Vijayan, while giving details about it, declined to reply to a question as to why the media was not allowed inside the meeting hall.

Later in a clarification, the CM's office said the media was not invited for the meeting, not even for the photo-op ahead of the meeting, it said.

"When the chief minister and other leaders came to the venue, the entire media was inside the hall. That is why, the CM asked them to leave the hall," the statement said.

It was not possible to hold such a discussion in the presence of the media, it added.

CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said probably the chief minister got angry as the media took visuals without permission.