Achuthanandan to lead protest march outside Parliament oct 17

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 29 (IANS) Even as the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) raised milk prices to Rs.20 a litre Monday, the LDF constituents announced they have asked Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to lead a protest march outside parliament against the economic policies of the Manmohan Singh government.

Addressing reporters after the LDF meet, its convenor Vaikom Viswam said they have asked Achuthanandan to lead a protest march in front of parliament Oct 17.

'Achuthanandan would be assisted by other ministers also. This is to open the eyes of the Manmohan Singh government who is ignoring the needs of the state in several aspects like withdrawing the ration supplies in certain categories and also cutting down the supply of electricity from the central pool,' said Viswam.

This would be the first time ever that a chief minister from the state would stage a protest march outside parliament.

Reacting to this, state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters this was just a gimmick and was being done to cover up for the poor governance of the Achuthanandan government.

'The Left always does this. They fail to do anything and then they blame others for their lapses. People know who is at fault. Prices here have sky-rocketed in every sector. We are going to stage a state-wide protest on Oct 6 against poor governance of the Left government,' said Chennithala.