Opposition leaders visit encroached land in Wayanad

WAYANAD - The top brass of the Congress-led opposition in Kerala Friday visited a piece of land that is occupied by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supporters, along with activists of a tribal organisation, here.

The CPI-M and the Adivasi Skehma Sabha claim that the land belongs to the government and had been encroached upon by Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader George Potham, who is now aligned with the opposition.

The opposition team, led by Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy, included the top leaders of all the allies of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

The CPI-M had initially said the opposition delegation will not be allowed to come anywhere near the land.

With the opposition adamant, the leaders of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) mellowed down and when Chandy and his team arrived along with a huge security cordon of police officials, they were received by local CPI-M legislator K.C. Kunhiraman and the Wayanad CPI-M district secretary C.K. Saseendran.

The CPI-M supporters and the tribal activists gave a memorandum to Chandy, saying the land was encroached and it should be given to the landless.

Chandy told them that the rule of law has to be adhered to and any forceful takeover like this would be counter productive.

The Kerala High Court had earlier intervened after JD-S legislator M.V. Sreyams Kumar, son of former Lok Sabha member M.P. Veerendra Kumar, said his land too had been encroached upon.

The court has asked him to produce all the documents Monday to show that the land belonged to him.

M.V. Sreyams Kumar had also moved to the UDF last year.