Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson M.S. Kumar has said that the CPI(M) should demit the Finance portfolio and the 2018-19 budget should be the last one to be presented by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac.
Mr. Kumar told reporters here on Friday that if the State government could prove that the Centre was responsible for the financial crisis in the State, the BJP would amend its policy and support the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. Reports about the fiscal condition of the State were totally negative and a matter of serious concern, he said.
Many voices
While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan placed the onus for the crisis on the Centre, his advisor Gita Gopinath had said that the policy was beneficial for the State and blamed the State’s excessive spending for the crisis.
Dr. Isaac was citing different reasons, but there was unanimity in opinion that the State was facing a deep crisis. The problem was with the CPI(M) policy and all Finance Ministers of the party were a failure, he said.
While Dr. Isaac said that demonetisation battered the cooperative sector, Cooperation Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that deposits in the cooperative banks had gone up. The State was likely to lose Central projects and funds, if the crisis was to prevail. The State government had failed to implement Central schemes. Suicides of KSRTC pensioners was becoming a grave issue. The State government should explain the logic in holding the Loka Kerala Sabha spending ₹5 crore when the State was facing a crisis, he said.
