The sharply divergent perceptions of the CPI(M) and CPI over the Munnar evictions came to the fore on Saturday with Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan staying away from the meeting of political party leaders and revenue officials convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here even as CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran questioned the rationale of the meeting.
The decision to hold the meeting, in response to a memorandum submitted to him by political party leaders in Idukki, including prominent CPI leader C.A. Kurian, objecting to the Revenue Department’s move to evict the occupant of a 22-cent plot in Munnar town, had triggered a controversy and the Revenue Minister had written to the Chief Minister urging him not to go ahead with it.
The Chief Minister decided otherwise and gave sufficient hints at the meeting that the Revenue Department was lax in implementing the decisions taken at the last three meetings held after the LDF came to power.
At the outset, the Chief Minister made a pointed reference to the fact that the meeting had been convened in response to the memorandum signed by Mr. Kurian, CPI Idukki district assistant secretary P. Muthupandy and KPCC vice president A.K. Mani.
While Mr. Mani was present at the meeting, Mr. Kurian and Muthupandy were not, as the CPI State leadership had barred them from attending it. Other signatories to the memorandum such as Power Minister M.M. Mani and CPI(M) legislator S. Rajendran were present and the latter was particularly critical of Devikulam Subcollector Sriram Venkitaraman.
However, the Chief Minister avoided any further reference to the controversial themes and asked the officials to collect tax from lease holders in case there were no legal obstacles to doing so.
An official press note issued later in the day quoted the Chief Minister as saying that the government’s stand on the Idukki land question is the same as that of the Revenue Department.
