Date:10/10/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/10/10/stories/2002101005100400.htm

Southern States - Kerala

Pillai-Jacob tie-up on `issues'

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Oct. 9. In an interesting move, the Kerala Congress(B) and the Kerala Congress(Jacob) have decided to set up a coordination committee to jointly take up issues. The Kerala Congress(B) leader, R. Balakrishna Pillai, will be the chairman of the committee.

Announcing the new platform, significantly when the various streams celebrated the 38th birth anniversary of the Kerala Congress, Mr. Pillai said at a press conference here that the two political parties would come together on building public opinion on various issues, sans a merger. The coordination committee would have four members each from the two parties.

The two parties have also identified a common agenda_ a prominent anti-Centre stance and protection of minority rights. Mr. Pillai lashed out at the step-motherly treatment meted out by the Central Government to Kerala and its development needs. He said that it was also possible to settle some of the disputes between Christian denominations if the Kerala Congress factions could come together.

In reply to a question, Mr. Pillai said the coordination committee was not a mini-front in the UDF but was intended to prepare the ground for a possible merger of all Kerala Congress parties, including the one headed by P.J. Joseph, who is now in the LDF. Besides, the UDF was a coalition, which functioned on the basis of a common minimum programme. There was no bar on setting up a coordination committee, he added.

In reply to a question on whether there were any road blocks to a merger between the two parties, Mr Pillai said that the total Kerala Congress unification would not be complete by Jacob and himself coming together.

He said that when States like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were getting special consideration, Kerala was being neglected. He felt that Kerala should also consider staging agitations in Delhi on the lines of the Punjab and Chattisgarh Chief Ministers to wrest its rightful share. Mr. Pillai said that the Kerala Congresses should emerge as a strong regional force, the only difference being that it would fight to protect minority rights.

Mr Pillai said that he would not attend the public awareness campaign charted out by the UDF leadership in the coming months. He did not mince words while expressing some of his differences with the UDF leadership over its stance on the Maudany issue. He said that the Kerala Government could at least withdraw the cases filed in the State against Maudany to show its sincerity towards his party.

He also expressed unhappiness at the statements of the Labour Minister, Babu Divakaran, regarding wages given to employees in the KSRTC. Without referring to the Minister by name, Mr. Pillai said that Ministers airing their views in public about the functioning of another Minister or his department was not a healthy trend.

The law and order situation was dismal and the DGP was ruling the State, he alleged. Mr. Pillai however was inclined to back the recent power tariff hike, which he said, was inevitable.