By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala's Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) Wednesday hit out at Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan's alleged partisan demolition drive on luxury resorts in Munnar that have come up on government land.
Achuthanandan said after a cabinet meeting here that he had asked a three-member special task force team not to demolish offices of political parties and places of worship even if they had encroached government land.
UDF convenor P.P. Thankachen said: "This is a partisan action and has been forced upon Achuthanandan by a small pressure group within the cabinet and the allies of the (ruling) Left Democratic Front (LDF)."
State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala said that he would visit Munnar in the coming days and identify each and every property that has been encroached by various political parties.
"All these days they (government) were saying that the maximum encroachment was done by the Congress-led UDF. Now trouble has erupted when a portion of the Communist Party of India (CPI) office in Munnar was demolished. We are not going to sit idle," said Chennithala.
Achuthanandan, however, stood by his decision not to demolish the offices of political parties in Munnar.
Ninety-one properties, mostly resorts, have been demolished and the government had got back 11,350 acres of land since the demolition drive began almost a month ago.
Munnar, a small tourist destination in Idukki district, has more than 3,500 small and big resorts and several wayside small hotels and restaurants that have come up in the last few years.