The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president P.K. Krishnadas has called for the immediate convening of an all party meet to discuss the spiralling price of essential commodities in the State.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting of the party State Committee, the BJP leader said it has decided to launch an agitation against the total failure of the State government to take effective steps to hold the price line.
The prices of essential commodities have increased 100 to 300 per cent in the State, Mr. Kirshnadas said. “Even in the face of such an unprecedented situation, the Congress and the CPI(M) who led the Central and State governments respectively, were engaged in an effort to wriggle out of the situation by accusing each other for the plight of the common man,” Mr. Krishnadas alleged.
Taking serious note of the reported statement by the State Civil Supplies Minister on the issue of price rise, the BJP chief said that the statements show how lightly the authorities are viewing the situation.
According to him, the BJP wants the government to take immediate steps to distribute essential commodities through the public distribution system, Mr. Kirshnadas said. According to him, as the first phase of the agitation finalised by the State Committee, district level office bearers will hold a dharna in front of the district administrative offices on December 4. As the second phase, the State leaders will hold a day-long fasting in front of the Secretariat building in Thiruvananthapuram on December 8.
The BJP president took a serious view of the developments in Dubai World and said the State would be impacted by these developments. The need of the hour was to form a crisis management group and take immediate steps to finalise an economic package for the State, he said.
Mr. Krishnadas also came down on the functioning of the Home Department which he alleged could not take any effective steps to counter the increasing number of robberies in the State. He alleged that the Home department was in deep slumber while robbers from across the State were having a free run in the State. He also criticised the failure of the Department to nab the 26/11 accused Rana while he was in the State.
B. Radhakrishna Menon, State secretary, N.K. Narayanan Namboodiri, district president and K.G. Rajmohan Zonal president were present on the occasion.
