Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday joined issue with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the latter’s contention that his administration was delivering goods.
In a statement here, Mr. Chennithala, while reiterating his earlier charges of administrative crisis and Cabinet deadlock, said the Chief Minister’s stand was odd since the government had not succeeded in getting any further Central assistance other than the ₹600 crore initially sanctioned.
The government could not submit a memorandum to the Centre weeks after the big flood had hit the State. The evaluation of the loss being conducted by various departments had reached nowhere. The Cabinet had not met for two weeks in the Chief Minister’s absence to take policy decisions. The Cabinet subcommittee which was purported to be monitoring the post-flood situation had no powers to take policy decisions. “The administrative deadlock has turned out to be another calamity as rehabilitation and reconstruction works are at a standstill,” he said.
Mr. Chennithala listed various projects that had been announced post-flood, but remained non-starters. Compensation amounts promised for various categories of people had not reached the targeted beneficiaries. He said the Chief Minister had failed to give direct replies to his charge about a Cabinet deadlock in the backdrop of his decision not to hand over charge to one of his Cabinet colleagues.
The claim that the Chief Minister had disposed off files electronically did not hold water. No one was opposed to the Chief Minister seeking medical treatment abroad, but it was not correct to create an administrative deadlock, especially when the State was trying to find its feet after the floods.
