Thiruvananthapuram: In a massive show of strength, thousands of LDF volunteers converged around the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday morning as part of their indefinite campaign to demand resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in connection with the solar scam.
While the protesters blocked three gates of the Secretariat, police managed to keep one gate open, through which Mr. Chandy and his Cabinet colleagues entered the complex early in the morning.
After the cabinet meeting, Chandy left the secretariat, and enroute some protestors tried to stop him, but senior leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Elamaram Kareem, pacified their fellow protestors.
Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar was stopped and he returned to the secretariat.
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Though a few contingents of central paramilitary forces have already been brought to the city, they are kept as reserve and police were deployed in full strength for security of the seat of power.
Mr. Chandy had on Sunday said force would not be used to suppress the agitation if it was carried out peacefully but would be compelled to act sternly if violence erupted.
Spurning the olive branch held out by Mr. Chandy, LDF leaders rejected the offer of talks, asserting there was no compromise on the demand for his resignation.
Rocking the State for some two months, the solar scam has brought Mr. Chandy under a cloud, especially after the arrest of a personal assistant in his office for his alleged links with the accused.