TRIVANDRUM, 8 May 2005 — The breakaway National Congress (Indira) legislators would attack and expose the Congress-led government of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy when the legislative assembly meets again, its president K Muraleedharan has said. “Their revelations will send many fretting,” he said inaugurating the Calicut district committee meeting. He also warned the police and bureaucrats who are “helping” the rivals to capture party offices that they would be made to answer after eight months when a new government comes to power. However, Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener Paloli Mohammed Kutty said the front had not taken any decision on accommodating the new outfit.

Reusable Launch Vehicle

Scientists at Indian Space Research Organization have said that India is capable of developing a reusable launch vehicle in the near future. Dr. Narayana Moorthy, project director of the Polar Satellite Vehicle mission PSLV-C6, said the launch of the GSLV scheduled for October is the first step in this direction. “An experiment to test the feasibility of retrieving a launch vehicle from the Bay of Bengal is planned along with the GSLV launch,” he said. On Thursday, PSLV-C6 injected two satellites, CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT, into the orbit.

Rejina Turns Against Kunhalikkutty Yet Again

Rejina, who forced the resignation of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P.K. Kunhalikkutty as industry minister four months back with her allegations of sexual exploitation, appeared again in the court to repeat the allegation. Rejina, 23, told the court she was under 16 when the IUML leader exploited her thrice during his first term as minister. The Calicut Magistrate’s Court was about to wind up the case, as the plaintiff P.J. Sebastian said he was convinced that she was not a minor, when she dramatically appeared to make the statement. The court refused to accept the statement saying she should come after receiving summons with proper identity proof. The case will be heard again May 28.

Panchayat Chief Resigns

Ernakulam district panchayat (village council) President K.B. Mohammed Kutty has resigned. A Congress party nominee, he was appointed Ernakulam district unit president of the NC(I) by Muraleedharan yesterday. He is also a staunch loyalist of Muraleedharan’s father K. Karunakaran. He tendered his resignation to panchayat secretary T.G. Gopalakrishnan.

Kerala Trawling Ban

Kerala will enforce a ban on trawling with wide cone-shaped net along Kerala coasts for 45 days from June 15. Mini-trawlers are also banned from fishing during the period. Fisheries Minister Domenic Presentation said the government would appeal to the federal government for a total ban on fishing by foreign trawlers. The fish workers’ unions should discourage the use of banned nets for fishing and clashes in the coastal area should be averted. Kerala imposes the ban during the breeding season every year.

LDF Candidates Hold Meeting

Convener Paloli Mohammed Kutty said the LDF meeting held yesterday approved the candidature of M. Prakashan from Azheekode and P. Jayarajan from Koothuparamba as its candidates fielded by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for the June 2 byelections to the state legislative assembly. The CPI-M state committee had cleared the names earlier. Both seats were won by the CPI-M with a comfortable margin in 2001. Jayarajan was disqualified by Supreme Court in January saying he was sentenced in a criminal case at the time of elections while Azheekode seat fell vacant after the death of the sitting legislator.