V M Sudheeran puts foot down on move for joint fight with LDF

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran has put his foot down on the UDF leaders’ move for a joint agitation with the LDF against the centre’s alleged plan to strangle the cooperative societies in the state. While he said that the Congress should not have anything to do with those (CPM) who were trying  to  capture the cooperative bodies,  Muslim League general secretary K. P. A. Majeed supported the initiative of former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala for joining hands with the LDF on the demonetisation issue.  

The UDF will hold a meeting of its allies here on Monday to discuss the proposal.
Mr  Sudheeran made it clear that the party had not thought about a joint agitation  although Mr Chandy and Mr Chennithala had expressed their support to  Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the matter. Mr Sudheeran, who was speaking at a function to commemorate former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s 100th birth anniversary at Indira Bhavan on Saturday, said  any move to destroy the cooperative sector will be opposed. “The  agitation against a common issue doesn’t mean a joint struggle,”  he said.

Congress sources told DC that a section of party leaders felt that a joint struggle would help only the  BJP and the LDF government.   However, Mr Majeed said in Kozhikode,  “a joint strike is  the best option to fight the centre’s  move to destroy the cooperative sector. If there are any differences in the UDF, it should hold a meeting and sort them out,” he said. He added that a delegation of leaders of all parties from Kerala had met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the other day on the issue.