Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Kodiyeri should quit, says Congress

Photo: S. Gopakumar

Taking stock: A meeting of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers held in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday to discuss the violent situation in Kannur.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has demanded the resignation of Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s owning moral responsibility for the violence in Kannur.

Addressing a press conference after a joint meeting of KPCC and Congress Legislature Party office-bearers here on Saturday, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala demanded deployment of Central forces to put an end to the politics of murder in Kannur. He accused the Home Minister of failing to perform his responsibility and giving priority to attend a party meeting in Delhi instead of making attempts to put an end to the violence.

The onus was on the government to take pro-active steps. Instead, the government had transferred out upright police officers from the district and posted officials who were sympathetic to the CPI(M). Similarly, it was found that prisoners who were let off on parole were indulging in criminal activities.

There was no attempt on the part of the government or the police to apprehend them, giving rise to suspicion that the government and the police were encouraging such elements.

To a question on the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) opposition to deployment of Central forces, he said the Congress party was of the firm view that Central forces should be deployed because the policing system was non-functional. Mr. Chennithala said the KPCC had condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership for promoting violence and urged the leadership of the CPI(M) and the BJP to end the politics of vendetta. The KPCC also extended full support to Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy’s proposed day-long hunger stir on Sunday in protest against the violence.

The KPCC welcomed the Central budget and congratulated Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for announcing Rs.60, 000 crore loan waiver for farmers. The KPCC said it would organise district-wise campaigns to highlight the Central budgetary provisions. The party also appealed to the Union Finance Minister to include provisions that would benefit all those who had taken loans up to December 31, 2007. It urged the Centre to set up district-level monitoring committees to oversee the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which would now be implemented in all districts in the country.

The KPCC executive committee would meet on March 28 and the political affairs committee on March 18. The KPCC executive would also examine the organisational revamp in the context of the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.

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