Kerala CM leads 'Satyagraha' protest against Centre
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday led a 'Satyagraha' protest here against the BJP-led union government, accusing it of "political vengeance" and "bias" in denying the state its rightful financial allocations.
The day-long protest, which commenced at the Martyrs' Memorial in Palayam in the heart of the city in the morning, saw the participation of cabinet ministers, ruling MLAs, senior leaders and other people's representatives.
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During his inaugural address, Vijayan charged the Centre with "deliberately creating obstacles" to stall the state's progress it has achieved in various sectors all these years.
"The Centre is trying to snatch away the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Kerala, which should not happen in a democratic country," he said.
He said the LDF government was forced to launch such a protest to protect the rights of its people in such an unprecedented situation.
He urged everyone to stand united to ensure that Kerala received its due share.
Vijayan also took aim at the opposition Congress-led UDF, accusing them of indirectly supporting the BJP and the saffron party-led union government in the matter.
The satyagraha is scheduled to be concluded in the evening.
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Stalin accuses Centre of trying to use women's quota as 'weapon,' slams EPS over delimitation
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has strongly criticised the Centre over the women's reservation and accused it of trying to use it as a "weapon" to tackle the opposition before taking up the delimitation exercise based on population.
"The Union government is not concerned about implementing reservations for women. If their concerns were genuine, they could have done it right away. Rather than doing that, the BJP-led Centre is thinking of using it as a weapon to tackle opposition and take up the delimitation exercise based on population," he told PTI in an interview.
"Hence, the women's reservation must be implemented immediately without showing delimitation as a reason," the DMK president added.
Expressing apprehensions on the proposed delimitation exercise, the CM said it was the DMK that raised the first voice asserting the rights of the state after realising that Tamil Nadu would be affected by the proposed exercise. He also attacked his rival and AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami over the delimitation issue.
Recalling efforts made by the DMK to raise the issue of population-based delimitation, he said an all-party meeting and a meeting of CMs under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee seeking fair delimitation were convened. It sought to freeze delimitation for 25 years and stick to it based on the 1971 Census population.
"We urged the union government that states which successfully implemented population control programmes must not be punished," he added.
The party came up with "Tamil Nadu poradum, Tamil Nadu vellum" (Tamil Nadu will struggle, Tamil Nadu will win) and this is DMK's stand, he said.
"However, Palaniswami, who is seeking votes for the entry of the BJP through the backdoor, has till date been mute over delimitation, and this is a betrayal of the people of Tamil Nadu."
