THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP has decided to step up its protests demanding that the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for the state should be set up in Thiruvananthapuram. Staging a dharna at the Secretariat here on Thursday, the party’s Thiruvananthapuram leadership accused the LDF government of facilitating the setting up of the national institution in Kozhikode.
“Two ministers from Thiruvananthapuram - V Sivankutty and Antony Raju - are doing nothing for the setting up of AIIMS in the capital. They are silent in the cabinet meetings and their respective party forums as well,” BJP district president V V Rajesh, who inaugurated the protest, alleged.The BJP leader accused both ministers of betraying the people of Thiruvananthapuram after obtaining votes from them.
Rajesh demanded that the government should immediately acquire the land identified for setting up AIIMS at Kallikkad panchayat. The setting up of AIIMS in Thiruvananthapuram will benefit people in neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu as well, he pointed out.The BJP district president said the silence adopted by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on the issue was an injustice to the people of the capital.
Rajesh said the BJP will launch a series of agitations till the state government takes the lead for setting up AIIMS in Thiruvananthapuram.Kallikkad grama panchayat president Pantha Sreekumar, who addressed the gathering, said 250 acres of land has been identified in Nettukaltheri in the panchayat for setting up the national medical institution.
BJP state committee member Eruthavoor Chandran said it was ironic that CPM leaders such as Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were relying on hospitals in the US for medical treatment.
BJP district vice-president R C Beena presided over the protest meet. BJP district general secretary V G Girikumar also addressed the BJP workers.