The four-day district meeting of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] came to a close with a public meeting at Ranni town on Thursday evening. Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurated the meeting. Newly elected party district unit secretary K.P. Udayabhanu presided.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Achuthanandan said the corrupt United Democratic Front (UDF) government had become a liability for the people of the State.
He demanded that the government publish the Vigilance report on the infamous bar licence scam. Kerala Bar Hotels Association working president Biju Ramesh had publicly stated of having enough evidence with him to support his charge that Finance Minister K.M. Mani had accepted Rs.1 crore for reopening the closed bars.
The bar owners had reportedly mobilised Rs.20 crore for greasing the palms of ministers and there was every reason to suspect that the remaining Rs.19 crore had been shared among various other ministers, including the Excise Minister and Home Minister, he said.
CPI(M) State unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, P.K.Sreemathy, MP, Raju Abraham, MLA, and K. Ananthagopan, former party district secretary, spoke.
