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CM to go by UDF decision on Pillai's entry

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MARCH. 5. The Kerala Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, said on Wednesday that he would go by the decision of the United Democratic Front and the Kerala Congress (B) on the induction of R. Balarkrishna Pillai into the Cabinet.

The Chief Minister made this remark when a reporter pointed out during today's Cabinet briefing that Mr. Pillai was kept out of the Cabinet despite the KC (B) and the UDF favouring their induction into the Ministry at the time of its formation.

Mr. Antony said the UDF would decide the matter shortly through discussions.

The Chief Minister said the Government or the UDF had not taken a conclusive decision against judicial inquiry into the police action against tribals at Muthanga. The Government was trying to find out the truth about the incidents through the Crime Branch investigation.

Mr. Antony urged the Opposition to desist from launching unconventional modes of agitation that harmed the public, especially the students studying for ICSE and SSLC examinations, while demanding the judicial inquiry.

He said the Opposition move to picket the Assembly and prevent the presentation of the budget on March 14 was not a mode of agitation acceptable in a democracy. The hartal planned by the Opposition on March 11 would inconvenience students appearing for the ICSE examinations on the day and preparing for the SSLC examinations beginning on March 12.

He said the Opposition agitations should be against the Government or the Chief Minister and not against the people, Assembly or the courts. He recalled that the Opposition had earlier tried to obstruct the functioning of the courts.

The LDF as well as the BJP, he said, were trying to make political capital out of the Adivasi issue. They had not played their roles in solving it.

Mr. Antony recalled that it was the LDF that had brought the law that promised land to the tribals in two years. If the previous Government had enforced the law and kept its promise, the present situation would not have arisen.

His Government had been taking various steps to distribute land to the tribals during the past 20 months. It had sought Central clearance for the diversion of about 12,196 hectares of vested forests for the resettlement of landless tribal families. The issue had been taken up with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in memoranda submitted by him on August 2002 and December 2002. The memoranda had also been submitted in December 2001 to the Union Minister for Agriculture for transfer of the Central State Farm at Aralam for distribution to the tribals. He had also raised the tribal issue at the meeting of the National Development Council in December 2002. However, the NDA Government had not given required clearance.

He said that despite the pressure from the Centre, including a letter from the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, T. R. Baalu, seeking eviction of the tribals from Muthanga, the Government had treated the tribals leniently.

He said whatever be the provocations, the Government was determined to solve the tribal land issue. It was a priority agenda of the Government, he said distributing copies of the memoranda submitted to the Centre and the communication between the State Government and the Centre on the encroachment of land by the tribals.

Mr. Antony announced that talks with the teachers and service organisations on their demands would be held here on April 2. The all-party meeting on projects announced at the Global Investor Meet was being postponed on a request from the Opposition.

The Transport Secretary, G. Rajasekharan, would be given additional charge of the Secretary and Director of Public Relations.

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