The proposed airport at Aranmula was a must for the development of Central Travancore region and it was unfortunate that those who stood for the project have been portrayed as corrupt elements, said Youth Congress(I) president, P.C. Vishnunath, MLA.
Mr Vishnunath was addressing a rousing public reception accorded to his Yuvajana Yatra here on Friday.
He said was highly deplorable to defame the supporters of the airport project by levelling baseless allegations of accepting money from the promoter company.
Mr Vishnunath said creating maximum number of employment opportunities was the policy of the United Democratic Front Government. If there were any irregularity or corruption in the name of the airport project, it should be duly probed into, he added.
Religious organisations appeared to have been transformed themselves into agencies that recruit youth on communal grounds and it was high time the youth understood this highly alarming situation, the YC(I) leader alleged.
Criticising the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mr Vishnunath said the party has been landed in the process of an irreparable decay.
Internal squabbles in the party have started gobbling the veteran party leader, V.S. Achuthanandan, he alleged.
Addressing the meet, Ms Sindhu Joy, State Youth Commission chairperson, said UDF would win the forthcoming Neyyattinkara by-election with a higher margin than that of Piravom.
Ms Joy alleged that the CPI(M) had lost its face as a party of the labour class or working class. Women and dalits were being sidelined in the CPI(M), groupism in CPI(M) was on the rise than ever before and the exclusion of even Ms Sarojini Balanandan from the party State committee itself was a testimony to this bare truth, she alleged.
The plight of Mr Achuthanandan in CPI(M) was pathetic and M.A. Baby and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan have become strongmen in the party, she alleged.
Tijo Varghese Daniel, YC(I) mandalam committee presdent, presided the meeting. Anto Antony, MP, K. Sivadasan Nair, MLA; P. Mohanraj, District Congress Committee president; V.S. Joy, Kerala Students’ Union State president; A. Shamsuddin, Abraham George Pachayil, DCC office-bearers and A. Sureshkumar, municipal chairman, also spoke.
