The Hindu : New Delhi News : MPs seek Sonia’s help

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Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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MPs seek Sonia’s help

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Cutting across party lines, Members of Parliament from Kerala on Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek her intervention to resolve the differences between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over the formation of the Salem Division of the Railways by hiving off portions of the existing Palakkad Division.

Work progressing

Pointing out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured a Kerala delegation that the Salem Division would be set up only after discussions between the two Chief Ministers, the MPs said work was progressing on this front despite apprehensions expressed by all sections of people from the State.

They demanded that work on the Salem Division be kept in abeyance pending a resolution of contentious issues.

Seeks railway zone

The delegation also demanded a separate railway zone headquartered in Kerala.

Though it should be headquartered in Kerala, the MPs said they were not insistent on it being exclusive to the State and could include the Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad and Salem Divisions, besides part of the Konkan Railway.

Led by P. Karunakaran, the delegation included Thennala Balakrishnan Pillai, M.P. Veerendrakumar, C.S. Sujatha, Suresh Kurup, C.K. Chandrappan, A.P. Abdullakutty, Chengara Surendran and Varkala Radhakrishnan.

This meeting was a follow-up to the all-party delegation, led by Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, which met the Prime Minister earlier this month on the same issue.

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