Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on both the BJP-led Union government and the Congress-led Opposition in the State, accusing the Centre of attempting to financially choke Kerala while the Congress remained conspicuously silent on the issue.
He alleged that the Congress, instead of resisting the Centre’s discriminatory approach, was effectively acting as the BJP’s B-team by aligning itself with the latter’s policies and political strategies.
Mr. Vijayan said the Union Budget had once again laid bare the Centre’s sustained and deliberate neglect of Kerala, driven by political hostility towards the State for refusing to align with the BJP.
He was inaugurating the South Zone Vikasana Munnetta Jatha at Chelakkara, led by CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam.
The Chief Minister said Kerala’s long-pending demand for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences had been ignored yet again in the Budget, despite the State’s strong record in public health. He noted that the State had proposed multiple locations, including land in Kozhikode district, and had repeatedly taken up the matter with the Prime Minister, only to face disappointment year after year.
