Kottayam: Opposition leader V D Satheesan on Friday challenged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to mention the K-Rail SilverLine project in the bypoll-bound Puthuppally constituency.
The Congress leader made the challenge as he addressed the anti-SilverLine agitators from Madappally near Changanassery here on the occasion of the 500th day of their protest.
The 500th-day mark comes as an opportunity for the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) front to rake up the issue which has been effectively back-burnered since the Thrikkakara assembly bypoll last year.
Madappally is close to Puthuppally which goes to bypoll on September 5. The 500th-day meeting was held at Kottayam town.
“During the Thrikkakara bypoll campaign, the chief minister did a lot of chest-thumping on K-Rail. He had said that whatever happens, K-Rail would come. In Puthuppally he has already addressed a few election rallies. But he did not have the courage to mention K-Rail like he did in Thrikkakara,” Satheesan said.
The opposition leader reiterated that the Congress would continue with the protest against the K-Rail project even if the Centre gives its nod to implement it.
The state government’s official version is that it is awaiting the Centre’s permission to start work on the semi-high-speed rail corridor project.
“We are not saying this out of arrogance. We know that we have the people’s support. We will go ahead with the protest until the government withdraws the project,” Satheesan said.
“It’s a fight for Kerala; for its ecology and economy,” he said.
Senior Congress leader and Kottayam MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said since the Thrikkakara bypoll, the Left Front has flexed its muscle while mentioning K-Rail. “With the Puthuppally bypoll, they will be totally silent,” he said.
Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony, Rajya Sabha member Jebi Mather and Kaduthuruthy MLA Mons Joseph were among the speakers at the event.
Anto said the proposed SilverLine project, if implemented, would drown Pathanamthitta district.
Madappally became one of the focal points of the anti-SilverLine agitation after the police assaulted the local people who protested against laying of survey stones for the project on their properties. Visuals of the police dragging a protesting woman – Roselin Philip – on the roads while her panicked little daughter kept crying had become an icon of the protest against the Pinarayi government’s pet project.
