The Hindu : Oppn. sathyagraha tomorrow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 16, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Oppn. sathyagraha tomorrow

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Dec. 15. The entire group of Opposition MLAs would be staging a sathyagraha before the Secretariat on Tuesday demanding the convening of a special session of the State Assembly to discuss the issue of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan.

In a statement here today, the Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, said 12 days had elapsed since he and the leaders of the other LDF constituents had met the Chief Minister with the demand.

The Chief Minister then promised the Opposition leaders that he would consult his Cabinet colleagues on this issue and get back to them. He had ignored even the basic courtesy of giving a reply to the Opposition so far, Mr. Achuthanandan said.

``Certain officials of the State Government signed an extremely dangerous agreement with the ADB last month without informing the people of the State anything about what it contained. The State legislature was totally bypassed in the operation. This agreement, according to media reports, is being ratified by the ADB's directors' board tomorrow,'' Mr. Achuthanandan said, adding that the Government had thrown all democratic principles to the winds by keeping the citizens in the dark on a matter of far-reaching consequence.

He said the Government's spokesmen had all along been maintaining that there was nothing new about the agreement it had signed with the ADB. Their contention had been that the UDF Government had only finalised the terms agreed upon by the previous Government during its discussions with the ADB.

The Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, had also stated he found it queer that the LDF, which had refused to convene the Assembly to discuss the details of its negotiations with the ADB, should now demand such a favour from his Government.

``Both these contentions are baseless,'' Mr. Achuthanandan said. "Though there were discussions with the ADB during the LDF's tenure in the Government, no agreements were signed. The ADB's top official, Frank Paulman, himself had clarified this point. What is happening now is quite different. The UDF Government is surrendering to every condition put forward by the ADB for its loan and signing on the dotted line shown to it.''

He noted that the Antony Government had, without any shame, agreed to the ADB condition to recast the entire administrative set-up here.

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