BJP terms Kerala CM’s Feb. 8 protest in Delhi against Centre ‘political drama bankrolled by taxpayers’ money’
The Hindu
BJP has termed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s protest against the Central government’s “financial embargo” on Kerala in New Delhi on February 8, 2024 (Thursday) as “high political drama bankrolled by tax payer’s money.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s protest against the Central government’s “financial embargo” on Kerala in New Delhi on February 8, 2024 (Thursday) as “high political drama bankrolled by taxpayer’s money.”
During a press conference at the BJP’s national headquarters in New Delhi on February 7, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan sought to puncture holes in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s narrative that the Central government was responsible for Kerala’s fiscal crisis. His Cabinet colleague Rajeev Chandrasekhar and BJP’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar flanked him.
Mr. Muraleedharan accused the LDF of resorting to the “tactics of Joseph Goebbels” (Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda) by incessantly reiterating a lie to make it appear as the truth.
Mr. Muraleedharan also took a swipe at the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition in Kerala for “defending the LDF’s financial shenanigans” by not holding the government to account in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
He said the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala were INDIA bloc allies posing as enemies to hoodwink the Kerala electorate and ensure that the “LDF-UDF revolving door politics” endured.
Mr. Muraleedharan accused Mr. Vijayan and Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal of making a “mockery” of the State’s 2024-25 Budget by supplanting the fiscal plan with a deeply resentful political statement that sought to cast the Central government in a poor light.
He said Mr. Balagopal used the Budget speech to heap blame on the Central government to paper over the LDF’s fiscal failures, including reckless borrowing and foundering financial management that caused the State’s revenue from tax and non-tax sources to plummet.
Political economist Parakala Prabhakar has described the exit poll results as “fudged figures”, saying that those would benefit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) only. “False predictions were given with the sole objective of helping the NDA in rigging during the counting,” alleged Mr. Prabhakar, after releasing a book titled ‘Avineeti Chakravarthi Narendra Modi’ penned by former Minister Vadde Shobanadreeswara Rao, here, on June 2 (Sunday).