The Communist Party of India (CPI), which is sympathetic to the residents of Keezhattur agitating against the proposed National Highway bypass, has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of adopting an opportunistic stand on the issue.
In a statement here on Saturday, CPI district secretary P. Santhosh Kumar said that instead of exerting pressure on the Central government to secure approval for the alternative proposal of an elevated highway, the BJP appeared to be interested in playing politics.
The idea of an elevated highway from Chiravakku to Ezhamile had been conceived as a result of the controversial bypass that was proposed to pass through the paddy fields of Keezhattur. While the CPI’s stand was that the elevated highway proposal should be considered as an alternative, the State government had also made a similar demand, he said.
No clear eco stand
Alleging that the BJP had no clear stand on environmental issues, the CPI leader said it had unashamedly given party membership to former MP Lakshman Seth who had been expelled by the CPI(M) over the incidents at Nandigram in West Bengal. The BJP was now claiming that farmers at Nandigram would participate in a farmers’ march to Keezhattur announced by the party. Suresh Gopi, MP, who had favoured the controversial mangrove park here could easily shift his positions on environmental issues.
Meanwhile, the BJP announced that party secretary Rahul Sinha, who it said had led the farmers' agitation at Nandigram, would visit Keezhattur on April 3 to address the farmers' protection march led by party national executive member P.K. Krishnadas from Keezhattur to Kannur via Taliparamba. The march would conclude here on April 3 evening at a public meeting, a press release said.
