An Left Democratic Front (LDF) meeting on Friday failed to resolve the differences between the CPI and CPI(M) over the action taken by Revenue Department officials to evict encroachments from government land at Munnar.
CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran told mediapersons soon after the LDF committee meeting that the differences on the Munnar issue persisted and more discussions would be required.
According to reports, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated his earlier stand at the LDF meeting that the revenue officials had acted in haste. The demolition of a Holy Cross without informing the government was not correct, he said.
The CPI leaders, including Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan, maintained that the revenue officials had followed the necessary procedures before demolishing the cross.
In order to prevent the situation from getting out of hand, it was decided to convene an all-party meeting under the auspices of the government, a move that was formalised later in the evening at a high-level meeting convened by Mr. Vijayan.
The customary press conference after the LDF meeting did not materialise, ostensibly in view of the prevailing strain in relations. The LDF State committee later issued a terse statement that merely said that it had asked the government to evict big-time encroachments, besides issuing title deeds to settlers prior to 1977.
The statement also had a reference to the one-week-long programme planned to celebrate the LDF government’s first anniversary in office from May 25. It recommended to the government to issue unconditional title deeds in Idukki district before the anniversary date.
The meeting also decided to hold public meetings in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode and also in all the 140 Assembly constituencies in connection with the first anniversary.
