BJP workers lay siege to govt secretariat

Thiruvananthapuram: Hundreds of BJP workers today converged infront of the Secretariat here and staged a protest demanding immediate resignation of Transport Minister Thomas Chandy, who is facing allegations of land encroachment for a luxury lake resort owned by him in Alappuzha district.

The protesters began assembling in front of three gates of the secretariat since 6 AM and raised slogans against the minister.

The Secretariat houses offices of ministers and bureaucrats.

Only the Cantonment gate was spared by the protesters to enable ministers and staff to enter the premises.

The agitators drawn from four districts of Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathnamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram, also wanted action against the Congress leaders named in the judicial commission report on the Solar scam.

Inaugurating the protest, BJP state President, Kummanam Rajasekharan said there was no question of any compromise on the demand for chandy’s resignation.

General Secretary, A N Radhakrishnan said the party would launch a series of agitations on the chandy issue.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should seek chandy’s resignation, he said.

A crucial meeting of the LDF held here yesterday had decided to entrust Vijayan with taking an appropriate decision on the matter.

NCP nominee, Chandy, a businessman-turned-politician, was inducted in the state cabinet 8 months ago following the resignation of A K Saseendran after a sleaze audio clip with a woman went viral.

There have been demands from the Opposition Congress-led UDF and BJP after Alappuzha district collector T V Anupama confirmed that paddy field had been reclaimed for laying the road to his resort, besides there was encroachment of backwaters constructed by the resort for its parking space.

The State Advocate General C P Sudhakara Prasad had recently told the state government that the collector’s report had legal binding and cannot be ignored.