By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala assembly was adjourned Friday when the opposition Congress asked Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to pinpoint the location of the 1,280 acres in Munnar that the government claimed to have recovered from the Tata group.
Congress leader G. Karthikeyan sought leave for an adjournment motion on the statement of Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran who had stated in the house Thursday that the land recovered was government property – but Achuthanandan said it belonged to the Tatas.
"Why are you upset that we have begun work to identify the excess land of Tatas? What happened on Tuesday (when he recovered the land) and what I did was the first step of removing the board of the Tatas. There is no difference of opinion between me and the minister," said Achuthanandan.
Unhappy with the reply, leader of opposition Oommen Chandy asked him to state where exactly was the land he recovered on Tuesday.
"It is your responsibility to point that out in the wake of the statement of Minister Rajendran. This shows the collective responsibility of your cabinet is gone. People of Kerala wish to know who is right – Achuthanandan or Rajendran," Chandy said.
Sensing that things were going out of control with angry opposition members gathering near his podium, Speaker K. Radhakrishnan adjourned the house for the day.
Rajendran, a Communist Party of India (CPI) leader, had told the assembly Thursday that the land recovered on Tuesday formed part of the 70,522 acres that the government had taken from the Tatas in 1974.
Surprisingly, not a single CPI legislator came to Achuthanandan's rescue when he was being attacked in the house.
The top brass of the party is reportedly upset at the manner in which the CPI-M led government is going about recovering encroached land in Munnar. The CPI was particularly peeved after a three-member task force demolished a portion of the party office in Munnar in May.