Left Democratic Front (LDF) activists will block all the four gates of the Secretariat from Monday as part of their indefinite siege of the seat of power demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and a judicial inquiry into the solar panel scam, convener Vaikom Viswan has said.
Mr. Viswan told reporters here on Thursday that the agitation was not aimed at upstaging the government or creating an administrative deadlock and hence could not be likened to the liberation struggle organised at the behest of the Congress in the late 1950s.
The agitators will not disrupt the annual Independence Day celebrations at the Central Stadium.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy, Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda, Revolutionary Socialist Party general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan, and prominent leaders of LDF allies, cultural leaders, and litterateurs will participate in the agitation on Monday. Thousands of volunteers will surround the Secretariat from Monday, he said adding they will not try to disrupt peace.
Ever since the solar panel scam erupted, he said, the State administration has come to a standstill and the LDF agitation will not create an administrative stalemate.
The LDF has already stated that it is not willing to upset the government through defection or other unethical means. Mr. Chandy’s assertion to suppress the agitation sounds like the voice of an isolated administrator and betrayed his contempt for democracy. People do not tolerate such rulers and will reject them.
Mr. Chandy could not elicit support even from the Congress. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala and other leaders are airing different opinions. The Chief Minister’s bid to refurbish the image through a Cabinet reshuffle also did not bear fruit. Now the allies of the ruling United Democratic Front themselves have said that the government cannot go on like this, he said.
