3 Sep 2010, 0059 hrs IST

Kerala News: KANNUR, Kerala: Socialist Janata (Democratic) party President, M P Veerendra Kumar, Thursday demanded a judicial probe into the lottery issue by "keeping Kerala Finance minister, T M Thomas Isaac, out from the cabinet."

Speaking to mediapersons here, Veerendra Kumar wanted to know why the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front government was fearing a judicial probe into the functioning of illegal lotteries by keeping Isaac out of the cabinet.

During the United Democratic Front rule in the state about Rs 350 crore worth lottery tickets were seized and hundreds of cases registered, he said, adding 'the LDF government should make clear what action it had taken against illegal lotteries in the state'. It was unfair to compare Kerala lotteries with illegal lotteries, he said.

Veerendra Kumar asked why the government was not intervening in the Attappadi Adivasi's land problem issue.

CPI (M) State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had not visited the Attappadi area, he said, alleging that 'none of the leaders of the constituents in the ruling front had visited Attappadi'.

He said the LDF government had conducted a study by a committee on encroachments in Munnar, in which Socialist Janata (Democratic) Party's prominent leader K Krishnankutty, was also a member. However, the study report has not been released till now, he charged.

The self-financing professional education sector has been ruined by the government, as a result there s uncertainty over the students' future, he alleged.