NCP urges Kerala CM to lead all-party delegation to PM

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 3 (UNI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) State President K Muraleedharan today suggested that Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan should take an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and convince him about the loss the state had incurred in natural calamities.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said if the state wanted to get assistance from the Centre, the Chief Minister should submit a memorandum along with all party leaders, instead of staging a protest along with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) ministers in front of Parliament.

He said the NCP could not support the LDF's fight against the Centre over the neglect of the state. However, he clarified that his party would support the LDF government's agitational path against the Centre if it continued with the same policy even after submitting the memorandum.

Alleging that the LDF government had no time to settle people's issues, he said the Front's main effort was to settle fighting in the party.

Mr Muraleedharan said the proposed dharna in front of the Parliament on August 20 by a delegation, comprising the Chief Minister, MPs and various party leaders in the LDF, would not get the desired results.

He said all corruption cases, including acceptance of money from tainted persons by the party organ Desabhimani, should be entrusted with the CBI.

He also urged the Chief Minister to clarify for what purpose he had tried to contact Pharris Aboobakker, a Singapore-based businessman through a Bishop. Since the Chief Minister himself described the businessman as a 'hated person', he had the responsibility to disclose all the details in this regard.

If he failed to do so, the matter should also be included in the CBI probe, he added.

UNI