Veteran politician VS Achuthanandan, who has been appointed as the chairman of the fourth Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission, has on Sunday, October 2, blamed the media for misquoting his comments against the merger of local State Bank of Travancore with the State Bank of India for the ongoing fast by Congress legislators against the fee hike in medical colleges in the state.
"I was returning after inaugurating a protest meeting with regards to the merging of the State Bank of Travancore with that of State Bank of India and it was to that I said that this was a wrong move by the government and a solution to this must be found out. But the media put out the news that what I said was about the ongoing indefinite fast by the Congress-led UDF legislators. This was purposely done to project that there was a difference of opinion between me and the state government," reads the statement issued by Achuthanandan, according to IANS.
On Sunday, reports had it that the senior Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader has slammed his own party claiming that the ruling government's stand over the fees hike issue was wrong. It also carried the statement of Kerala Congress President VM Sudheeran, who had reportedly welcomed the stand of VS. "Anyone with sense will only say that an amicable solution should come from the government to end the ongoing impasse and we welcome the statement of Achuthanandan," Sudheeran is quoted as saying by IANS.
Three legislators -- Hibi Eden, Shafi Parambil and Anoop Jacob -- have been on an indefinite fast at the Kerala Assembly against the fee hike at self-financing medical colleges in the state and have claimed that they will not call-off the protest till the hike was rolled back. Achuthanandan had even spent time with the fasting legistators previous week to enquire about their health.
