Kerala: UDF Lays Siege To State Secretariat Over Corruption Allegations
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hundreds of workers from the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) began protesting outside the state secretariat On Wednesday morning.
The UDF workers have laid a siege to the secretariat blocking three of the four major gates of the building. The workers started arriving in Thiruvananthapuram in early morning hours, with more expected to join throughout the day.
The UDF is staging this protest against the rampant corruption in the CPM-led LDF Government. The protest highlights the corruption worth hundreds of crores of rupees in cooperative banks governed by the left parties, as well as the issue of gold smuggling and the money allegedly received by the chief minister and his daughter as monthly installments from a company involved in sea sand mining. The UDF leadership has accused the chief minister of failing to carry out a free and fair probe into the charges despite facing serious corruption charges at a personal level and in the cooperative sector.
The opposition is also highlighting the spiralling prices of essential commodities, the hike in petrol and diesel prices due to the state government's failure to reduce sales tax on fuel, and the administrative paralysis in the state and all-round failure in governance in most sectors.
The protestors have blocked three of the four entrance gates to the secretariat, affecting the functioning of the secretariat. Only one gate has been left open by the security personnel for the entry of the chief minister and his Cabinet colleagues who are scheduled to attend the weekly cabinet meeting later in the day. Senior bureaucrats will also be entering the secretariat through the gate. The police have erected barricades, and traffic movement near the secretariat has come to a halt.
This is the second secretariat siege of the UDF in the past couple of months, and the BJP-led NDA has also announced that it would lay siege to the secretariat on October 30 to protest against the state government's corruption and misgovernance.
The top Congress leaders including PCC president K Sudhakaran, opposition leader V D Satheeshan, and top leaders of the constituent parties including the Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress are leading the protest.
