Kerala: Cabinet to stage satyagraha in front of RBI regional office

Thiruvananthapuram: Battle lines have been drawn for a direct confrontation between the centre and the state government over the curbs imposed on the cooperative banks.  Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues will  sit on a day-long satyagraha in front of the RBI regional office here on Friday protesting against the centre’s alleged move to destroy the cooperative sector. Mr Vijayan told a news conference here  that he along with other minsters would observe a satyagraha in front of the RBI  Thiruvananthapuram:...regional office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

“The political conspiracy against the cooperative sector which plays a key role in the state’s economy has to be fought and defeated by the people,”  he said while defending the  satyagraha decision. He  said the overwhelming sentiment of the state was  against the centre’s move. “The Opposition UDF leaders who met me earlier also expressed similar sentiments. They  believe that it was an attack on the cooperative sector and should be countered effectively,” he  said. The satyagraha was just the beginning of the sustained struggle against the centre’s decision.

“An all-party meeting has been convened on November 21 to formulate the further course of agitation,” he said. When asked about BJP leader O. Rajagopal’s statement that the LDF and the UDF had joined hands to save black money and that the RBI cannot exempt only one state from its norms, the chief minister said that he did not expect such an irresponsible statement from the veteran leader. “I think the BJP leaders are making such nonsensical statements as part of the political conspiracy to derail the state’s economy and obliterate the cooperative sector,”  he  said.