Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to face voters with the 10-year progress card of NDA governance in the country.
Vijayan said in Thrissur on Tuesday the BJP is quite apprehensive about meeting the people with fresh promises since it has hardly done anything for them, especially the poor, during this period. Earlier promises of writing off farmers loans and constructing houses for the poor remain unfufilled and have not been mentioned the same in its 2024 election manifesto.
At the same time, Kerala on its own has constructed four lakh houses for the poor under the Life Mission scheme without participation of the Centre, he said.
Corporates benefit most
It was the corporates who have benefited mostly under the NDA rule in the last 10 years, the Chief Minister said, adding that the BJP is looking at polarisation of votes to regain power.
Referring to the cooperative bank scam at Karuvannur in Thrissur, the Chief Minister said the bank has reimbursed Rs117 crore to depositors and has given new loans worth Rs8.16 crore to beneficiaries. The government has also taken stern action against those involved in irregularities by adopting revenue recovery proceedings, he said.
He accused the BJP government of sabotaging the cooperative sector in Kerala through unnecessary raids by enforcement agencies. The Chief Minister’s response comes in the wake of the Prime Minister promising to return investors’ money at campaign meeting in Thrissur on Monday.
The Chief Minister lashed out at the Centre for freezing CPI(M)’s bank accounts, and said the party will take recourse to donations from the public for election campaign.
Campaign funds
“We always keep some cash on hand. It is no secret. A portion of this amount will be used for election campaign”, he said and went on to add that the freezing of accounts will not help BJP candidate Suresh Gopi to win the Thrissur parliamentary constituency.
Vijayan also accused the BJP of hindering the development activities of the State by denying the eligible funds.