THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: United Democratic Front will focus on brewery allocation scandal and the Sabarimala issue during its meet on Monday. UDF sources believe the government is on the back foot in the brewery and distillery allocation issue, brought to limelight by the Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. State excise minister T P Ramakrishnan’s guarded response, that the government will study in detail if there are any discrepancies in the allocation of breweries or distillery, shows the government is a taking guarded stance, they said.
To expose the corruption in the deal, the UDF will conduct protest programmes in all district capitals. “UDF is going to fight this major corruption of the LDF government,” said KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran. “The UDF will also conduct a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan to protest the corruption in the Rafale deal. Both Pinarayi Vijayan and Narendra Modi are two sides of the same coin and the Congress and the UDF will lead the fight against the anti-people policies of the state and the Central governments,” he said.
Women’s entry to Sabarimala will be the other major issue to be discussed at the meeting. The opposition has already asked the government to file a review petition in the Supreme court. The UDF is expected to chalk out further course of action during the meeting.
The front is planning to conduct dharnas and protest marches across the state to convey the message to the public that the state government is showing undue haste in implementing the Supreme Court order.
UDF leadership is of the opinion that the Congress is one step ahead in the matter. “It is only after the Congress took the matter up that the BJP came forward with their opposition. Feedback from the ground shows believers are against the government implementing the court order with full steam and not going for a review petition. This has put the CPM on the defensive,” said a senior Congress leader.
“UDF is definitely on the move. In both brewery scandal and Sabarimala issue we are on the people’s side and people are supporting us,” said former minister and RSP leader Shibu Baby John.