Cong to skip golden jubilee celebrations of first govt

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28 (UNI) The Congress in Kerala will not be participating in the 50th anniversary celebrations of the first elected Government in the State stating that the first EMS ministry had made no significant contributions to the State.

''The first EMS Government was only engaged in cell rule and the CPI(M) is trying to project that the first Communist Government had contributed to the development of the State. They are trying to distort history,'' Kerala Pradesh Congress President Ramesh Chennithala told newspersons here.

It was also not correct on the part of the LDF Government to celebrate the 50th anniversary by spending crores when the State was passing through a financial crisis. The state was almost on the verge of overdraft, he said and added the Congress, taking this into account, had decided not to participate in the celebrations.

Alleging the celebrations were being conducted only to hide the failures of the present Left Government, Mr Chennithala said no Government had ever conducted such an anniversary. ''There was no jubilee celebrations of the first Nehru Government or the Thiru-Kochi Governments,'' he said.

The Kerala Government had decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary with various programmes. State Governor R L Bhatia would be inaugurating the celebrations on April five, the day the EMS Government was sworn in.

On the rise of communal tension in the northern parts of the State, Mr Chennithala said the Government had failed in curtailing the fundamental forces. The LDF Government, which had allied with certain fundamental forces in the state, was having a ''soft pedaling'' approach towards them, he said and added that this approach of the LDF led to an increase comunal tension, especially in the northern parts of the state.

Asking the Government to take stringent action against the fundamental forces, he said the Congress would support the Government in this regard.

On the uproarious scenes in the Kerala Assembly over the resolution, expressing the House's reservations over a court issuing arrest warrants against Electricity Minister A K Balan and CPI(M) MLA M Chandran, he said the ruling CPI(M) had deviated from all democratic principles and was trying to suppress the rights of the Opposition, which was not good.

''As the CPI(M) have a majority in the House, they think that anything could be done. The Opposition has certain rights and a resolution should be moved according to the rules specified. The LDF had defied all this,'' he added.

Mr Chennithala also said that partY had charted out several programes for the coming months.

UNI