Kerala - Kottayam   

Keep KC(S) out, says Achuthanandan

Staff Reporter

`Foreign investment should not be conditional'

KOTTAYAM: The two splinter groups of Kerala Congress (Secular) should be kept out of the LDF meetings in future.

According to Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, the State secretariat of the CPI(M), which recently concluded in Thiruvananthpuram, has decided to ask the LDF Liaison Committee to keep both the splinter groups, one led by P.C. George and the other by Eapen Varghese, out of the party till further arrangements were made.

Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, Mr. Achuthanandan said the party and the LDF had taken similar decisions earlier, especially in the case of the split in the Congress(S) when the one splinter group retained the original name and the other joined with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Both wanted to be in the LDF. Mr. Achuthanandan is against the tendency of coalition partners splitting and retaining separate identities in the same coalition.

Mani flayed

Mr. Achuthanandan alleged that Revenue Minister K.M. Mani and his friends were preparing to destroy the remaining forest land in the State. Earlier, the State had 11 per cent forest cover. Today, however, as per the official data, the forest cover has reduced to five per cent. The actual area under forest cover will be three per cent of the total land area of Kerala.Alleging that the attempt was to help the big players, Mr. Achuthanandan said the concern for the farming community, now being displayed by the UDF Government, was not visible during the last four and a half years of their rule. "As many as 1,500 farmers have committed suicide, all that the Government did was declare some projects, which were never backed by adequate funding," he said.

The Government is yet to account for the land it had lost in Munnar, Mr. Achuthanandan said. The Government took necessary steps at Mathikettan to retrieve a portion of the land that had been encroached upon. Stressing the role played by the media during the Mathikettan land grab controversy, Mr. Acuthanandan said that a similar approach should be adopted in the Cardamom Hill Reserve issue.

Mr. Achuthanandan also reiterated his stand that the party was not against attracting foreign investment for the development of the economy of the State, but it should not be conditional.

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