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ADB loan: Opposition MLAs stage dharna

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DEC. 17. In a bid to send the message across that there is no political consensus in the State on the question of availing the $200-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V. S. Achuthanandan, has said that a future LDF Government would not repay even a single paise to the ADB.

Winding up the day-long sit-in by LDF legislators in front of the Secretariat to press for an urgent session of the Assembly to discuss the implications of the loan package, Mr. Achuthanandan said the ADB authorities had better remember that unlike in north India, the reins of power changed hands every five years in Kerala and that if it came to power three years from now, the LDF would see to it that the 10 secretaries planted in the Chief Minister's office were sent off `with a slap'.

The LDF legislators decided to hold the sit-in following the Government's refusal to convene an urgent session of the Assembly as demanded by the Opposition leaders in a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, last month.

The Government had recommended convening of the session from January 24. In all, 31 Opposition MLAs took part in the dharna after a short march from the MLAs' hostel to the Secretariat.

The sit-in, which began at 10 a.m., concluded at 5 p.m.

Inaugurating the dharna, Mr. Achuthanandan said the Opposition stir would continue till the Government acceded to the plea for an emergency session of the Assembly. Accusing the Chief Minister of having adopted a dictatorial stance on the ADB loan issue, he said the Government's refusal to divulge details of the loan package and the conditions being imposed by the ADB clearly showed that the loan would cut at the roots of the hardwon rights of the people of Kerala. The Cabinet would lose its authority with the officials handpicked by the ADB taking charge at the Chief Minister's office.

The CPI State secretary, Veliyam Bhargavan, the LDF convener, Paloli Mohammed Kutty, the RSP State secretary, T. J. Chandrachoodan, the Congress (S) State president, Ramachandran Kadannappally, and the NCP State general secretary, P. P. Saseendran, among others, addressed the legislators and the scores of activists gathered in front of the Secretariat. Activists of various class and mass organisations owing allegiance to various LDF constituents reached the Secretariat to declare solidarity with the LDF MLAs.

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