Kochi: Congress will withdraw all support to the cooperative sector, said Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, he said the party would also seriously consider withdrawing deposits from cooperative banks that belong to party sympathisers. This consideration comes in the wake of the violence that occurred during the Chevayur Cooperative Bank election in Kozhikode on Saturday.

"It was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Cooperative Minister VN Vasavan who said that the cooperative sector in the state is going through an unprecedented crisis and that everyone should unite to save it from collapsing. But before they could even retract their words, the police and goons were unleashed to beat up our people in order to take control of a cooperative society run by the Congress at Chevayur. Let me make one thing clear: we are withdrawing all our support to the cooperative sector. We will not cooperate with the government in any activities related to the sector. We will also seriously consider whether to withdraw the deposits of our sympathisers from banks that have been forcefully taken from us," Satheesan said.

"In Pathanamthitta, the CPM has taken control of 18 to 20 banks through unfair means. If we take a closer look at the financial condition of these banks, it is clear that they are plunging into a deep financial crisis. On one hand, CPM has been loudly demanding the protection of democracy in the cooperative sector. On the other hand, they are undermining democracy by using the police and local goons to seize control of cooperative banks. We will address these undemocratic activities both legally and politically. The Congress party will seriously consider whether to advise our sympathisers to withdraw their deposits from such banks," Satheesan said.