Embarrassed after the VS drama, Munnar demolition put on hold

Government sources said the special task force there has been asked not to demolish but only file a case and seal a major unauthorized resort, which was to go under the bulldozers today. They said a decision has been taken “in principle” to make this applicable to the remaining unauthorized constructions there “so that possibilities could be explored for integrating the constructions into a master plan for the town later.”

Though the sources said this move was also to avert inviting possible legal complications over land titles, a Left front leader feared that an abrupt stoppage to the high-visibility demolition exercise may be misinterpreted and go against the government’s image. No official word is yet available on the decision.

On the defensive over VS Achuthanandan’s mess-up with the Tatas and his own revenue minister contradicting his claims, the government faced an angry opposition that stalled the state Assembly and got it adjourned for the day after the Speaker did not allow it to move an emergency motion.

Meanwhile, the Left Democratic Front has begun firefighting to get over the crisis the government now faces after Rajendran of the CPI made a suo motu statement in the Assembly yesterday shooting down Achuthanandan’s claim that the 1,260 acres that he personally led his officials to “recapture” was originally government land that the Tatas had hogged.

Rajendran’s statement in the Assembly was that the land in question had been in control of the Forest department for decades, and only the Tata tea company’s board _that VS personally yanked away and replaced with a Government board_was on government land.

Though VS tried to claim in the Assembly today that what he and the Revenue minister said about the Tata land were not really different things, he refused to heed the opposition’s demand to clarify, leading to the adjournment of the House. The CPM state secretariat today came out with its own statement repeating VS’s assertion and blaming the media and the Opposition for the “confusion”.

Prof TJ Chandrachudan, general secretary of the RSP, a major constituent of the Left front, however, said the issue was the fallout of a bad clash of egos between two leaders and two parties. Chandrachudan blamed both VS and Rajendran for the crisis, asserting both need to realise what their actions could do to the image of the Left front and the Left government.

... contd.