Kozhikode: Raising the pitch in his attack against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM for raising the retirement age in state government entities, Opposition leader VD Satheesan said ruling party is trying hard to wriggle out of the situation now.
Responding to CPM State Secretary MV Govindan's revelation that the decision to raise the retirement age was taken without the party's knowledge, Satheesan said the minister who signed the order should be sacked.
"How did the order to raise the pension age come without the knowledge of the Chief Minister, the ministers, the cabinet, or the party? If that's true, the Chief Minister should be ready to sack the minister who signed the order. Are you brave enough to do that?" he told reporters after inaugurating the UDF protest against the state government here on Thursday.
"Now they are distancing themselves from the issue saying that no one knew and the cabinet did not discuss it. The order should be withdrawn completely. There are many anti-labour provisions in the order," he said.
Meanwhile, putting the state government in a spot of bother, Govindan said that raising the retirement age was not discussed with the party. "The issue should have been discussed within the party, but it was not. There is no point of investigation as the government reversed the decision," he said.
CPM-affiliated trade union CITU too had opposed the move. CITU State Secretary Elamaram Karim also said that no discussion was held with the trade unions about the expert committee's report, which suggested raising the age limit.
CPM-backed youth wing, DYFI too had opposed the move.
