Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala took a dig at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday saying he does not trust food minister P. Thilothaman. "Otherwise he would have asked him to accompany to Delhi for talks with Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan.," he said while inaugurating the UDF district picketing in front of the Secretariat. Mr Chennithala asked Mr Thilothaman to resign as the CM did not "consider him as a minister." All the 14 UDF district committees had held picketing in front of collectorates, protesting what they termed as anti-people friendly policies followed by the LDF government.
IUML leader P. K. Kunhalikutty, RSP leader N. K. Premachandran, Forward Block leader G. Devarajan, KC (J) leader Daisy Jacob and scores of leaders courted arrest. When Cantonment assistant commissioner K. E. Baiju arrested them, their supporters tried to resist. But the leaders diffused the situation. They were freed later on bail. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy led the protest in Ernakulam, IUML state secretary K. P. A. Majeed in Kollam, and KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran in Alappuzha.
