Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday warned all those who constantly opposed the State’s development and stated that the government would take all measures to isolate such people.
He wanted the legislators to consolidate their stance against such stumbling blocks.
The Chief Minister’s remarks, while replying to a three-day debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly, assumed significance in the context of the opposition that has come up with regard to promoting the Athirappilly hydel project.
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He rebutted Congress leaders’ allegation that his party was promoting communalism. The direct talks he held with BJP-RSS leaders in the presence of CPI(M) leaders had been fruitful to the extent of preventing political murders.
There was no basis to the charge that the CPI(M) was trying to weaken the Congress while promoting the BJP. The Congress was already a weak party and he sympathised with its current status.
The State government was not for a confrontation with the Central government, but it would not hesitate to take a critical stance if Kerala’s interests were at stake, whether it was related to ration allocation or allotment of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
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His government had done all it could to ensure the State got an AIIMS but it was clear from the attitude of the Union Minister during bilateral talks that the State would not get it, he said.
Health services
Earlier, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja, responding to criticism related to her portfolio, said she proposed to bring in standardisation of health services from primary health centres to medical colleges.
Listing out the steps taken by her department, the Minister said the government proposed to focus on primary health, by converting primary health centres into family health centres.
She said the government was not against the new medical colleges set up by the previous UDF government, but only wanted to ensure that these colleges had enough facilities to perform as research centres. The priority was to develop the five medical colleges into centres of excellence, she added.