Special Correspondent
In protest against Central neglect of the State
Party workers to take out march towards the residences of all State MPs on September 6
O. Rajagopal to lead satyagraha in front of the Palakkad railway station on September 11
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a hartal in the State on September 14 in protest against “the policy of neglect being followed by the Centre towards Kerala”. The hartal is on the day on which the Indian Railways plans to declare Salem as a new railway division.
At a press conference here on Saturday, BJP State president P.K. Krishnadas said party workers would also take out a march towards the residences of all State MPs on September 6 to “expose their inefficiency in pressing the State’s case at the Centre”.
He said Kerala had two Cabinet Ministers and a Minister of State at the Centre. All MPs from the State were with the Congress-led Government at the Centre, either within the ruling United Progressive Alliance or supporting the alliance from outside. Despite these, Kerala found itself on the losing side in every decision of the Central Government, he alleged, adding that the State’s railway development would be badly hit when Salem Railway Division was formed. He noted that a major portion of the Palakkad Railway Division would go to the new division.
Senior BJP leader and the former Union Minister O. Rajagopal would lead a satyagraha in front of the Palakkad railway station on September 11 as part of the party’s campaign on the issue.
The party charted out the details of the campaign at its State committee meeting here on Saturday, Mr. Krishnadas said.
He demanded the resignation of Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Education Minister M.A. Baby and Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran for attending a public reception given to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Nasir Maudany here the other day.
He said Mr. Maudany represented “religious terrorism” and, although he was exonerated by the court in the Coimbatore blast case, there were several criminal cases against him for his activities in Kerala. It was shocking that the Home Minister of the State should attend a public meeting hosted by the PDP to celebrate Mr. Maudany’s release from jail, he said.
