Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran slammed the State government’s week-long Keraleeyam fete as profligate spending when the inflation-hit families were struggling to make both ends meet, and the treasury remained void.
He said the festival, estimated at ₹27 crore, was a challenge to the people of Kerala. It was thinly veiled political propaganda using taxpayers’ money and backed by the government’s official machinery.
He said the event would bring the capital to a standstill for seven days. The State treasury was bone dry. It had no money to pay government contractors. Public works in the State had ground to a halt due to the mounting backlog of payments. The financial crisis has hit the disbursal of Dearness Allowance to State employees, noon-meal schemes in schools, and issuance of welfare pensions. The government owed KSRTC employees several months of salary. Retirees from the Corporation rarely got pensions.
