Amid the ongoing Congress-led protests in Kerala against alleged ‘backdoor’ appointments and demanding extension of validity of certain PSC rank lists, the Left Front government on Wednesday decided to create 3,051 new posts in various departments.

The state cabinet, on Wednesday, also decided to put on hold regularisation of contractual employees, saying the opposition parties were misleading the youth, a move which the opposition drubbed as "succumbing to the pressure of protesters". Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state government will regularise those appointments which were put on hold once the government is re-elected. "Of the new posts created, 2,027 posts will be in the health department," Vijayan said at a press meet. He said there were no lapses on the part of the government in regularisation and the protest t was to "tarnish" the image of the Left government

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state government will regularise those appointments which were put on hold once the government is re-elected. He refuted the opposition allegation that by putting on hold regularisation of contractual employees, the government has succumbed to the protests of rank holders and said the state government policy is to "regularise those who have been employed for more than ten years".

The state BJP also joined the protest with its leader Sobha Surendran beginning a 48-hour-long sit-in in solidarity with the protesting rank holders. Late in the night, the protesters blocked a government vehicle in front of the secretariat and threw chairs inside the complex.

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