Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has accused the CPI(M) of targeting BJP workers in the State.
Addressing the BJP State executive meeting here on Thursday, Mr. Shah said this was unacceptable, but the party was against violence. “We believe in judiciary and we will put an end to this. The entire party is with the Kerala workers and will work together to strengthen the organisation in Kerala,” he said.
He called upon the workers to take up the challenge of popularising Central government schemes among the people. “An entry into the Assembly is not our goal. This should be a stepping stone for a complete victory in the 2021 Assembly elections, he said.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had never adopted a step-motherly attitude to Kerala. The BJP believes in federalism. As much as Rs.5,000 crore was distributed to 8,30,411 unemployed youth under the Mudra scheme. The target was to distribute loans to 14-lakh youth, he said.
When the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was governing the Centre, it ill-treated State governments ruled by the Opposition parties. The State governments had to move court for securing Central funds. Now the NDA government has changed the system.
While the UPA government shared Rs.33,368 crore to the State from Central tax, the NDA has raised it to Rs.98,912 crore. The aid through various programmes to the State during the tenure of the UPA was Rs.5,476 crore and the NDA had enhanced it to Rs.17,683 crore. Grant for local bodies too had increased from Rs.2,732 crore to Rs.7,683 crore, he said.
