THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has come under flak from Opposition leader V D Satheesan on the Mullaperiyar dam issue. Satheesan urged Pinarayi to end his silence when people living on the banks of the Periyar are in constant fear after Tamil Nadu opened nine shutters of the dam on Monday night.
Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, the Opposition leader alleged that the LDF government and Pinarayi have not been taking any action to alleviate the fears of the people on the Mullaperiyar issue. He also alleged that the state government is acting as if it is afraid of someone.
"The state government is not demanding to convene the Mullaperiyar monitoring committee and instead sitting idle with its hands folded. Pinarayi has not taken any initiative to hold talks with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister when they have been opening the dam shutters in the night. He should end his silence," said Satheesan.
On a day when Pinarayi held talks with Samastha leaders in Kozhikode on Tuesday, Satheesan claimed that the UDF stands vindicated after it had proclaimed in the Legislative Assembly against the Waqf board appointments being referred to the Public Service Commission. He took a dig against the LDF government's late reasoning as Pinarayi had assured the Samastha leaders that they will reconsider their request.
"The UDF's demand in the Legislative Assembly was that a recruitment board should be constituted to make Waqf board appointments transparent. Then the LDF government and Pinarayi had not realised the merit of our demand. Now the late reasoning is appreciable. On the lines of the central government cancelling the farm bills by convening the Parliament session, the LDF government will also have to convene an Assembly session and cancel its decision," added Satheesan.