Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said the Comptroller and Auditor General’s recent report only underscored facts regarding Kerala’s economic crisis pointed out by the United Democratic Front (UDF) in two white papers.
“The State has failed to collect tax and arrears. The government alone is responsible for the fiscal crisis. While there has been a marked rise in prices of commodities that naturally led to a rise in taxes, the collection does not reflect that,” Mr. Satheesan said here on Saturday.
The Opposition, he said, had warned earlier that external borrowings for disbursal of pension and projects funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) would be counted as the State’s borrowing. A fair share of the blame should be with the State government, and while the Centre was also at fault for denying the State’s revenue share in the divisive pool, the State was trying to hide its fault by putting all the blame on the Centre, he said.
Mr. Satheesan said the Congress and the UDF believed that there should be an investigation into the solar case conspiracy. But they did not want the Kerala Police to investigate the case. If there was no investigation in the wake of the CBI report, the UDF and the Congress would seek legal recourse. Legal opinion was being sought for the same. He also accused the government of being friends with middlemen, who, he alleged, fabricated evidence in the case.
Mr. Sathesan said there was confusion in undertaking measures to prevent further spread of Nipah and also fixing its treatment protocol. The government should take urgent measures to prevent the spread of the disease. The Opposition, he said, would not politicise the issue and would extend all support to the government. “Our only demand is that the measures to tackle this be further strengthened,” he said.
He also decried the controversial remark by actor Alencier at the State film award ceremony. “He is a good actor but should not have made such a misogynistic statement,” Mr. Satheesan said.
He urged the police to seriously investigate cases of people falling prey to online loan app sharks who resort to blackmailing.
