Nelliampathy issue: Mani, Joseph to meet Kerala CM today

Thiruvananthapuram: While the Kerala Congress (M) has toughened its stance on the Nelliyampathy estates’ issue by maintaining that eviction of genuine farmers will not be allowed even when the party will oppose encroachers, Congress MLAs V D Satheesan and T N Prathapan asserted on Wednesday that the issue is purely legal and it cannot be resolved through political discussions. The differing stance is poised to put the UDF under tremendous pressure, even as an emergency meeting of the front has been convened on Monday to break the deadlock.

KC(M) leaders and ministers K M Mani and P J Joseph will meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday and convey the official stance of the party. The duo are planning to register the party’s strong protest and displeasure over concerted attempts within the UDF to paint the party in bad light, in the name of the stance of Government chief whip P C George. The party leadership had finetuned a collective stance on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in the form of an assessment of the UDF MLAs who conducted a parallel evidence collection at Nelliyampathy the other day, MLAs V D Satheesan and T N Prathapan said that the stand taken by various governments from time to time in the courts on forest land cases could not be superseded by political decisions. “Cases related to thousands of acres of forest land are pending in the Supreme Court, High Court and various tribunals in the state. The government had so far argued vociferously in the affidavits that the disputed land tracts are forest land. If the stand is changed for whatever reasons, then the leaders should understand that the consequences will be grave”, they said.

The Congress MLAs said the issue is purely legal and it cannot be resolved through political discussions.

The MLAs were also critical of P C George saying that the latter who is holding a cabinet rank was stating publicly that even if God came and argued the Nelliyampathy estate cases, the government is not going to win it. “Those responsible should clarify whether it is the stance of the government,’’ the MLAs demanded. They also asserted that there will be no compromise on securing forest land including at Nelliyampathy to the government.

“We’ll go to any extent for it,’’ they asserted, unmindful of the opposition and reaction generated among a section of Congress leaders towards their stance.

Interestingly, the Nelliyampathy region is all set to remain as a political minefield in the coming days as well with separate delegations of the CPM, CPI, NCP and Forward Bloc slated to visit the region. A State Karshaka Congress (I) delegation will also visit the region.

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