Kerala - Kochi   

Karunakaran to inaugurate march

KOCHI: Veteran leader K. Karunakaran will inaugurate a Secretariat march to be organised by the Congress on January 10 against the spiralling prices of essential commodities.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala said the party would also organise marches to the collectorates in other districts as part of the State-wide agitation.

Coming down heavily on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, Mr. Chennithala said the Finance Ministry was responsible for the failure in regulating prices of essential items.

He said that the Finance Department had also refused to allocate more assistance for transporting rice from Andhra Pradesh.

The State Civil Supplies Corporation should be given support to ensure adequate stock of rice in the State.

He said that the available stock would be over by this week. Mr. Chennithala urged the government to procure rice directly from Andhra Pradesh to check the increasing prices.

Blaming the rift between the CPI(M) and the CPI for the sharp fall in supply of rice, Mr. Chennithala said the infighting had also affected the smooth functioning of the government.

Referring to the power cut issue, he said the government could have easily avoided the daily half-an-hour load-shedding if the authorities had completed the work on the Neriyamangalam power project on time.

Pointing out that Devaswom Minister G. Sudharakan was responsible for the stalemate over the administration of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the KPCC president said the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government led by Oommen Chandy had taken several steps to ensure Sabarimala development.

Responding to Mr. Sudhakaran’s remark about an intelligence report that the UDF and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were trying to create problems at Sabarimala, Mr. Chennithala demanded a statement from the Home Minister in this regard.

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