Moideen’s gesture and U-turn video fuels row

Kozhikode: The controversy over the viral visuals of Balussery native Moideen handing over his welfare pension to CPM state secretary M V Govindan during Vikasana Munnetta Yatra on Jan 9 has intensified after conflicting videos surfaced. Left social media handles had widely circulated the original visuals soon after the event.In a clip that surfaced on Sunday, Moideen claimed party leaders insisted that he hand over the money and allegedly assured him that they would return it after he handed it over. In another video released on Monday, he retracted that claim and said that he gave the money voluntarily and that nobody had applied pressure on him to do so.LDF-linked social media accounts had widely circulated the first video of Moideen handing over currency notes, said to be his pension sum, to Govindan. In the video he stated that he wanted LDF govt to return to power and claimed that if UDF won the election he would not receive his pension. Govindan returned the money to Moideen and said that his wish to see LDF in power would be fulfilled.The issue took a political turn after a video surfaced on Sunday, in which Moideen said he had not acted on his own and regretted the gesture, putting CPM on the defensive. Congress leaders quickly seized on this development and alleged that it exposed the ruling front's publicity tactics.Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan said that it was evident for all those who saw the video that it was the handiwork of a PR agency. "All such acts would only disfigure the image of CPM. All such PR works, rolled out by LDF in recent days, are falling flat," said Unnithan.Meanwhile, in a new video on Monday, Moideen said that he had acted independently out of affection for the party."I had thought of taking an image – pension beneficiaries counting their notes – just like the ones that are doing the rounds. I was not acting on anyone's direction. I only did what I wanted," said Moideen in the new video that surfaced on Monday.