Addressing newsmen here, Ravi said the ongoing peaceful fast by Congress leaders was a protest against instances of rampant abuse of power and police excesses in the state. ``Here the situation is such that a panchayat deputy director can remove any president enjoying a majority,'' he alleged.

Ravi also took exception to the manner in which the government was trying to crush the agitation. ``Right from the chief minister to CPI-M district secretary, they are insulting Congress leaders without any kind of respect towards opposition parties,'' he said.

Ravi said Congress governments had always been considerate to Opposition in the past. The Left Democrativ Front government was now fabricating cases against Congress workers. About 50 Congress workers had now beencharged with murder attempt in the district in cases involving merely verbal duel, he said.

The congress leader alleged that panchayat deputy directors dared to misuse authority just because the government was offering protection to them.

Ravi said two block panchayats in Palakkad and another in Thiruvananthapuram were facing same problems with officials misusing their authority at the instance of the government.

In Avoli Panchayat in Ernakulam district, a panchayat president had been continuing till recently without majority by fabricating a bogus resignation letter of a Congress member. The court had recently pronounced a verdict in the member's favour, he said.

Ravi said Mullappally Ramachandran, whose fast on the Payyavur issue entered the sixth day today, was bent on continuing the fast till he got justice.

Oommen Chandy, MLA, who was also present, said the government should conduct a realistic study on the fund utilisation in the Peoples' Planning Programme in local bodies in view ofprevailing charges of corruption in many places.

Asked whether the Payyavur stir had brought about unity in Congress, Ravi said ``for the time being we have handed over groupism to the CPI-M.''