Mullaperiyar: KC (M) ministers defy Oommen Chandy, to fast

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The Kerala Congress ministers, Mr K.M. Mani and Mr P.J. Joseph, are going ahead with their fast on the Mullaperiyar issue on Monday, defying the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy’s directive to cabinet colleagues not to conduct public protests.
The finance minister, Mr Mani will fast at Chappath near the dam site and the water resources minister, Mr Joseph, will fast in Delhi.

Both the ministers justified their action saying that their fast was not a public protest but an act of prayer.

Mr Mani said his fast was meant to create an amicable solution to the row. “I am fasting as the chairman of the Kerala Congress and not as a minister,” he said. On his part, Mr Joseph said “it cannot even be called an agitation. Mahatma Gandhi had conducted several such fasts.”

Mr Joseph, who is in Delhi to attend the meeting of the high power committee on Mullaperiyar, said that he would undertake the fast at Birla House.

The minister also went back on his earlier proclamation that he would join the opposition leader, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan’s proposed fast on Wednesday at Mullaperiyar to mobilise public support in favour of a new dam.

Sources said that Mr Chandy had asked ministers not to conduct public protests following legal opinion from the senior Supreme Court lawyer, Mr Harish Salve, who felt it would weaken the state’s case before the apex court.

Meanwhile, the protest march organised by BJP youth activists to dig a canal at the Mullaperiyar dam turned violent, triggering clashes with cops.