Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his Cabinet colleagues will wait till September end to fulfil its plans to meet all the Ministers of the UPA government in Delhi to take up the cause of Kerala’s development.
The entire Kerala Cabinet was to camp in Delhi from August 22 to 26 to seek Central assistance and clearances for various projects. They had fixed up about 40 appointments with Union Ministers and officials to press for various projects. However, the trip was postponed in view of the agitation by Anna Hazare and his team. It is perceived that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several of his Ministers would be too busy dealing with the challenge posed by Mr. Hazare that they would hardly have time to attend to Kerala’s demands.
The State government now plans to seek fresh appointments with the Prime Minister and Central Ministers after the Onam festival in the State. A large number of issues are proposed to be taken up with various Central ministries such as further development of Kochi Port, Vallarpadam terminal and Cochin Shipyard and fresh investments in various Union public sector enterprises in the State. It is also to seek assistance for modernisation of universities and research centres in the State besides clearance for various projects to be taken up by different departments.
Though the Ministers have cancelled their trip, the Chief Minister will be going to Delhi on Monday to attend programmes of the Malayalam Mission in Delhi. He would be interacting with organisations of Keralites in Delhi. However, earlier plans to meet investors and hold press briefings may not happen.
