Thiruvananthapuram: The Cantonment Police here on Wednesday registered a case against 3,000 persons including opposition leader V D Satheesan over the secretariat blockade which led to traffic snarl-ups in the capital city. Satheesan is named as the first accused in the case.
The case was registered for blocking the road and using a loudspeaker without permission.
KPCC president K Sudhakaran, UDF leaders M M Hassan, Kodikunnil Suresh, Ramesh Chennithala, Ramya Haridas, V S Sivakumar, Palode Ravi, P K Venugopal, M Vincent, K Muraleedharan, Neyyattinkara Sanal and C P John were also booked in the case.
Thousands of people participated in the protest accusing the LDF government of corruption, administrative mismanagement and financial extravagance. The blockade, which commenced around 6 am, led to a huge traffic snarl-up in the city. With UDF activists flocking to the secretariat premises since morning, police brought the administrative office under a security blanket. Employees, including ministers' personal staff, faced issues entering their offices.
The UDF alleged that the state government's misrule has brought a stop to the development and welfare activities in the state. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan alleged that "looters were ruling the state".
Inaugurating the protest he alleged that despite the state being in financial crisis, the government's extravagant spending has not come down.
The government has not paid pension and DA arrears, while KSRTC drivers and conductors have not received salaries for the last couple of months, and farmers have not been paid for grains collected from them, he said.
Satheesan claimed that crores of rupees were spent on "welcoming a crane" at Vizhinjam port. He cited the district-level review meetings held across the state and the upcoming week-long Keraleeyam celebrations from November 1 as the other examples of extravagant spending.
He also listed various instances of alleged corruption by the government, including the Karuvannur bank scam, the installation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras and the KFON project. Satheesan also attacked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the financial transactions of his daughter's firm with a private company.
Attacking the CM, KPCC Chief Sudhakaran alleged that the government was defective and that he had not been able to achieve anything despite getting a second term in power. By comparison, former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy had hundreds of achievements to his credit, Sudhakaran added.
Sudhakaran also alleged that the present government has not been able to help anyone including farmers who have not been paid for the foodgrains collected from them. The UDF also slammed the government over the rise in fuel and electricity charges as well as for the hike in prices of daily essential items.
