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UDF plans legal defence committees

Special Correspondent

P.P. Thankachan says false cases are foisted on UDF activists in connection with hartal.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) will form legal defence committees to tackle the cases foisted on its workers for participating in its February 19 hartal.

The UDF high-power committee, which met here on Thursday morning, decided to step up its campaign inside and outside the Assembly during the current session focusing on five major issues including price rise, HMT and ISRO land scams, smuggling of illicit liquor using a State-owned company’s facility and maladministration in Devaswom boards. The youth organisations of various UDF constituents will stage a massive demonstration in front of the Assembly on March 17.

The UDF meet came down heavily on cultural personalities for their partisan stand on the hartal and other modes of agitations that caused inconvenience to the people.

“We doubt the impartiality of these personalities,” the UDF convener said.

Addressing a press conference here, UDF convener P.P. Thankachan said a section of the police officers had been overenthusiastic in booking agitating UDF workers under non-bailable provisions of the Prevention of Destruction to Public Property Act. He alleged that the section, along with Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) supporters, had tried to foment tension. He said violent incidents had taken place in certain places mainly on account of the provocation of certain police officers.

‘Hartal peaceful’

Claiming that the hartal was by and large peaceful, Mr. Thankachan said the five issues the UDF sought to highlight were not politically motivated and continued to be redressed as reflected in the Governor’s address to the Assembly. The UDF resorted to the hartal only when its attempts failed, that too, after giving 21 days’ notice period for the government to resolve the issues. The details of its campaign in the Assembly will be worked out later.

With regard to the HMT land scam, the UDF insisted that a judicial inquiry be ordered without any delay. The Chief Minister has deftly side-stepped the main issue related to corruption among his Cabinet colleagues. As Leader of the Opposition and later as Chief Minister, he had promised to take on corruption. His shifting stand on the HMT land deal became more evident after his party’s Kottayam conference.

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