Veteran politician and high-profile newcomer to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) P.C. George on March 21 (Thursday) challenged the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) to come up with an actual performance report that could give a complete picture about the welfare funds spent by their parliament members in Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency in the past years.
“A Parliament member, who represented Kozhikode for three consecutive terms should be prepared to present the report first as he contests the Lok Sabha elections again. In our observation, he utilised only ₹7 crore for this constituency when the permitted limit was about ₹17 crore,” said Mr. George while opening the election convention to support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate M.T. Ramesh. He also alleged the details of the expenses were not submitted to the higher authorities on time.
Criticising the demand of the UDF and LDF to consider a change in the declared election date, Mr. George said fuelling religious sentiments in the name of a day even while knowing that it would not be considered by the Election Commission was a farce. “We had the history of holding Lok Sabha elections on Sunday which was not opposed by any religious communities. Instead of seeking a revision in the existing date, the real faithful should come up to cast their vote after completing the Friday prayers,” he demanded.
Holding the LDF leadership accountable for the promotion of corruption and maladministration, Mr. George said the Chief Minister and his family members would soon face the music as investigation was in full swing on the allegations raised against them on various issues. He also claimed that the citizens in Kerala were in huge debt due to the maladministration of the State government and would get a befitting reply in the upcoming elections.
BJP State committee member K. Narayanan presided over the convention. Candidate M.T. Ramesh; BJP State vice presidents P. Reghunath and Prameela Devi; and district president V.K. Sajeevan were present among the other senior leaders who addressed the mass convention at Muthalakkulam ground in the district.
