Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty held talks with the Left employees' unions of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) on Friday, setting the ground for amicably resolving the spat between the unions and the chairman and managing director of the utility, B. Ashok.
The Left-backed workers' unions and the officers' associations will hold separate meetings with Mr. Ashok on Saturday as per the decision taken on Friday.
The indefinite strike outside Vydyuthi Bhavan, the KSEB State headquarters at Pattom in the capital, will continue on Saturday, union leaders said, adding that it will be called off if the meetings are fruitful.
Following discussions between the Minister and the leaders of the joint action council S. Harilal and M. P. Gopakumar on Friday, the unions said Mr. Krishnankutty has promised a favourable stand on their demands.
The unions had launched the strike demanding the KSEB management to withdraw the decision to hand over the security of the Vydyuthi Bhavan to the State Industrial Security Force (SISF) and scrap decisions that entail financial liability for the utility. The unions had also accused Mr. Ashok of attempting to curtail organisational freedom in the KSEB.
SISF deployment at the Vydyuthi Bhavan is expected to be discussed at Saturday's meetings.
The indefinite strike and a Facebook post by Mr. Ashok in which he levelled charges of irregularities in the operations of the utility had put the LDF government on the backfoot.
Meanwhile, the unions have demanded that propaganda aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the KSEB should be rejected outright.
In a bid to resolve the issue, LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan, CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran and CITU State general secretary Elamaram Kareem held discussions with Mr. Krishnankutty on Friday.
