People's Democracy

KERALA

LDF Intensifies Stir with Cliff House Siege

N S Sajith

THE opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) has intensified its struggle to press for resignation of the Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, tainted in the solar panel scam, with a massive siege of Cliff House, official residence of the chief minister at Thiruvananthapuram. This indefinite blockade of the CM’s official residence began on Monday, December 9, as thousands of LDF workers literally laid a siege of it. Hundreds of workers courted arrest.

Opposition leader V S Achuthanandhan inaugurated the agitation at the Devaswom Board junction, one of the main passageways to Chandy's Cliff House residence.  Speaking on the occasion, Achuthanandhan said the stir would continue till a fair judicial probe was ordered by bringing Chandy under the ambit of investigation.

Hundreds of LDF volunteers, led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, marched from Raj Bhavan junction to the venue of the agitation and started the picketing. LDF leaders said the blockade of the Cliff House area, where several ministers also reside, would be peaceful and that they would not obstruct the movement of any person other than Chandy, as their stir was only against the chief minister.

Though the Kerala government of the Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) ordered under pressure a judicial probe by a retired High Court judge, the LDF was not satisfied and has been demanding a probe by a sitting High Court judge, with the chief minister covered by the probe. The scam pertains to financial cheating by Saritha S Nair and Biju by claiming to offer to the people solar energy solutions. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, LDF convener Vaikom Vishwan and CPI leader C Divakaran were among the leaders arrested by the police on December 9.

On this day LDF workers from only Vattiyoorkkav and Thiruvananthapuram assembly constituencies participated in the picketing.