Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Friday led his entire Cabinet to a march to Parliament alleging “discrimination” against the Left-ruled state by the Congress-led UPA Government and accusing the Centre of not granting many of the legitimate demands of the state.Addressing the demonstration attended by almost all Left MLAs and MPs from Kerala, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat spoke against concentration of powers with the Centre and favoured a new look at Centre-state relations. Opposition Congress organised a parallel dharna in Thiruvananthapuram against what it called the ruling Left Front’s “political gimmick” with an eye on elections.Achuthanandan, addressing the demonstration, said that the Centre had been neglecting the state and not doing enough as per the requirement of the state on various “critical” issues. The major demands raised by him are restoration of the rice quota for above poverty line families, restoration of the power share from the Central electricity pool, setting up of an IIT in the state and sanction for establishment of a railway zone in Kerala.“They had promised us many things, but none of them materialised. The protest in Delhi comes in this backdrop,” Achuthanandan said. He said the Centre first slashed the rice quota meant for APL families from 1,13,420 tonnes to 17,056 tonnes and then stopped it completely, and reduced the share of power from the Central pool from 1188 MW to 667 MW.Apart from Karat, CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat, CPI Deputy General Secretary Sudhakar Reddy, RSP leader T J Chandrachoodan and Forward Bloc’s G Deverajan participated in the demonstration. Besides MPs and MLAs and 16 ministers from Kerala, Left MPs from other states also sat on a dharna in what is seen as an attempt to shift the blame on the Centre for everything that’s amiss in the state.
