The Congress on Tuesday slammed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for “playing partisan politics” when the COVID-19 outbreak demanded united action.
KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy jointly accused the government of excluding the Opposition on essential matters of State that demanded political consensus.
The government had excluded the Opposition from the expert task force constituted at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suggest measures to walk the State back from the lockdown.
It had arbitrarily ordered teachers and government employees to surrender a month’s wages without consulting Opposition service organisations.
The police prevented Congress workers from voluntary work while they gave free rein to CPI(M) activists.
Salary challenge
The situation did not warrant the surrender of salaries by government employees. The State’s finances were robust. The coffers of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund boasted ₹1,700 crore.
Moreover, the Centre had given ₹1,800 crore to make up for the revenue deficit. Kerala had also received the lion share of its GST compensation, and the Centre had allowed it to raise its credit ceiling from 3% of the State’s gross domestic product to 5%.
Mr. Chennithala said floods in 2018 and 2019 had caused widespread destruction. Rebuilding the State required money. However, COVID-19 presented a different economic challenge.
The government should infuse the economy with money and enhance the purchasing power of people by putting more cash in their hands instead of robbing them of their wages.
Call to CM
The Congress asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to tighten his belt by shedding his highly paid special advisors who had outsize salaries, official cars, police escort but no meaningful job.
Mr. Vijayan had created six Cabinet-level posts at a considerable cost to the treasury to accommodate CPI(M) leaders who could not win elections. He had also rented a helicopter for VVIP travel at a high price when the State’s finances tottered.
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