Kerala Congress Launches Widespread Protests Against State Government

The Opposition Congress party today launched State-wide agitations against the alleged anti-people policies and administrative failure of the Left government in Kerala.

Hundreds of party activists took out protest-marches across the southern State, marking the beginning of the three-phase stir "Paura Vicharana" (trial by citizens).

The march was taken out to the Secretariat, the administrative hub, in Thiruvananthapuram and to the respective Collectorates in other districts, party sources said.

Marking the State-level inauguration of the agitation, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran led the march to the Secretariat.

Inaugurating the march in front of the district Collectorate in Kozhikode, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan said the decision to launch a mass agitation against the CPI(M) government was jointly taken by the Congress and the party-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

The stir was launched raising issues being faced by people which were being neglected by the authorities, he said.

Referring to the increasing price of essential commodities, Satheesan said the State was witnessing the biggest price hike in the last decade but the Left government has failed to take any step to bring it under control.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was yet to convene any meeting in this regard to discuss the price hike, he said.

Besides K Sudhakaran and V D Satheesan, several senior leaders, MLAs and MPs led the march in various districts.

As a second phase of the stir against the government, the KPCC is planning two-day vehicle rallies under the aegis of the Block Congress committees in various districts between November 20-30.

Thousands of party workers would lay siege to the Secretariat in the second week of December as the third and final phase of the protest, KPCC sources added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)