THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: LDF activists organised a blockade in front of cooperative banks in the district in protest against the Ordinance issued by the State Government disbanding the governing committees of District Cooperative Banks, which are dominated by the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The protest in front of Thiruvananthapuram District Cooperative Bank was inaugurated by CPM leader Kadakampally Surendran. He said that the State Government decision to issue an Ordinance disbanding the governing committees was unlawful and a challenge to democratic traditions.
He said that the State Assembly had unanimously decided to limit voting rights to primary and agricultural cooperatives and urban banks.
The Ordinance effectively gives voting rights to all cooperative societies in the elections to the governing committees of the banks. It reverses a 2007 Ordinance issued by the previous LDF government.
In a statement here on Sunday, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said the Ordinance was issued because 12 out of the 14 district cooperative banks in the State were being controlled by the LDF.
“The move is to bring the district cooperative banks under the control of government-appointed administrators and to then facilitate the backdoor entry of UDF,” he said.