Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy sneaked into his office well before 5 am, taking the CPI(M) activists by surprise before they laid siege to the secretariat building on Wednesday. The symbolism was stark: the government did function despite the all-out siege of its central establishment.
The one-day siege, in protest against price rise, was to begin from 5 am, to make sure no one entered the secretariat for the day. “Since I wanted to avoid a confrontation with the protesters, I reached office early,” he said. He didn’t miss the chance to take a dig at the main Opposition party. “Though I reached office before 5 am, I could not see the agitators near the secretariat for the next two hours.” But having reached office almost five hours ahead of the official time, and with none of the usual interruptions coming in the way, he put the additional time to good use by clearing all files that had piled up on his table over the past few days.
After finishing the file work, the chief minister settled for an Onam feast that was organised for his office staff. Agriculture minister K.P. Mohanan and a couple of MLAs joined the Chandy team.
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Virbhadra sulks, skips manifesto meet
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, Aug. 22
Sulking Himachal Pradesh Congress leader Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday skipped the party manifesto committee meeting for the coming state Assembly polls even as his loyalists continued to camp in New Delhi in an apparent bid to put pressure on the party high command ahead of selection of candidates.
Mr Singh did not attend meeting of the manifesto committee headed by Union commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma, his known detractor. “Except Virbhadra Singh, other members attended the manifesto committee meeting,” G.S. Bali, convenor of the committee, told PTI.
He said the meeting deliberated on issues to be raised during the campaign for the elections due by the end of this year.
Mr Singh has been sulking following appointment of Mr Anand Sharma as chairman of the party manifesto committee in which he has been made a member and more recently naming of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as head of the screening committee to shortlist candidates for the polls. Meanwhile,the Congress high command appears to be in no hurry to decide on the
appointment of a the Himachal PCC working president
AICC general secretary Birender Singh said no order has been issued so far on the issue
of working president.