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Antony not cooperating with Opposition: VS

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, AUG. 19. The Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, has accused the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, of taking no effort to seek the cooperation of the Opposition in presenting the case of the State before the Centre.

Talking to presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Achuthanandan said Mr. Antony was not willing to prepare a joint memorandum on the State's demands with the Opposition. He was totally ignoring Opposition. The State Government had failed to make a proper presentation of the State's case before the Centre. Reacting to the remark made by the Chief Minister in the morning, Mr. Achuthanandan said Mr. Antony was trying to cover up his inefficiency in pressing for the State's demands by making incongruous statements.

MPs met Manmohan

He said the Opposition needed no support from anyone to argue the State's case before the Centre. Left MPs from Kerala led by the CPI Parliamentary Party leader, P.K. Vasudevan Nair, had met Ministers including the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, had held discussions with the Prime Minister.

Farmers' suicides

Reiterating his charge that the Chief Minister and the Agriculture Minister, K.R. Gouri, were hiding facts about farmers' suicides, Mr. Achuthanandan said Mr. Antony had admitted the suicide of 26 farmers only after three Opposition members including himself made repeated pleas in the Assembly in this regard.

Mr. Achuthanandan demanded that farmers be offered loans at nominal interest rates with no repayment for five years. He also demanded that the present loans be written off.

Reiterating his charge that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the Muthanga incidents was biased, Mr. Achuthanandan said a judicial inquiry, as demanded by the Opposition, would have brought the truth out.

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