Kerala: End KSEB strike, LDF tells power minister; B Ashok to stay on

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior LDF leaders have directed power minister K Krishnankutty to hold talks with the KSEB employees' joint action council at the earliest and put an end to the indefinite strike at board headquarters Vydyuthi Bhavan.
They have reportedly asked the minister not to be swayed by the claims of KSEB chairman and managing director B Ashok against the employees' unions and his purported insinuations against former minister M M Mani.
The joint action council has been on a strike for the past four days, demanding withdrawal of various "unilateral decisions" taken by the CMD. The decision to deploy the State Industrial Security Force (SISF) at Vydyuthi Bhavan is one among them.
We have discussed things in general and hope the issue will be sorted out by the minister at the earliest. He has been asked to hold talks with the trade union leaders and find an amicable solution," CITU state general secretary Elamaram Kareem told TOI.
Krishnankutty, the lone representative of Janata Dal (S) in the government, told reporters after a meeting with LDF leaders at the AKG Centre that a formula had been arrived at to resolve the ongoing strike and he would hold discussions with the union leaders on Friday.
Besides Krishnankutty and Kareem, LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran attended the meeting that lasted for around two hours. Krishnankutty said there was no demand from LDF leaders to remove Ashok from the CMD's post as demanded by the Left unions.
He said the allegations raised by Ashok were being probed. The CMD had alleged that large swathes of KSEB land were leased out without following procedures during the last government's tenure and some employees had leaked out tender details to contractors.