UDF agrees for joint agitation on cooperative issue

Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF on Monday decided to join the LDF for the agitation against the Centre in the wake of cooperative sector coming to a standstill following demonetisation even as the KPCC on Sunday said there was no need for such a stir.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, while talking to the media after a UDF meet here, said the Opposition would join the ruling LDF to pass a resolution in the Assembly on the matter on Tuesday.

The Congress leader said that an all-party delegation will be sent to Delhi to resolve the issue related the cooperative sector. “The employees in cooperative sector will also join hands in the agitation. If the issue is not solved even after the visit of the all=-party delegation, the UDF will meet again to decide the future steps,” Chennithala said.

The latest decision is a setback to KPCC chief V M Sudheeran who was against the LDF proposal joint agitation.

Taking exception to the proposal of some UDF leaders for a joint stir on the issue, Sudheeran had said "all political parties other than BJP have come out against Narendra Modi government's attitude towards cooperative sector. There is no necessity to think about a joint stir."

"Each party and coalition is in the agitation front," he said in a Facebook post.

He had also questioned the dharna by LDF led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in front of the RBI office here on November 18 as first phase of stir against what they termed as Centre's move to destroy cooperative sector in the state.

"Actually it would have been more appropriate if the Chief Minister had observed the dharna at national capital which is the headquarters of Union government," Sudheeran said.

The LDF and UDF had alleged that the Centre backed by BJP in the state was trying to "destroy" cooperative sector under the cover of demonetisation process.

CPI-M also alleged that RSS was spreading "lies" that deposits in cooperatives in the state were not safe with an objective to trigger panic among depositors.

It was to force the public to withdraw money from cooperative banks and invest it in private banks, CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said, adding that the cooperatives in the state have a total deposit of Rs 1.27 lakh crore.