Pinarayi Vijayan says Kerala will move SC against Centre’s alleged trespasses on fiscal federalism

Given the Centre’s financial embargo, Mr. Vijayan said Kerala was struggling to spur development and pay welfare pensions promptly to an estimated 62 lakh beneficiaries.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Kerala would move the Supreme Court against the Centre’s alleged trespasses on fiscal federalism.

Speaking to journalists in Thiruvananthapuram on the final day of the Cabinet’s State-wide public outreach programme, Navkerala Sadas, Mr. Vijayan accused the Centre of financially strangulating Kerala.

He said the Centre, by a conservative estimate, owed Kerala an estimated ₹64,000 crores. He said the Union Government had halted GST compensation, slashed Kerala’s revenue deficit grant, hauled down the State’s borrowing limit, and pared down the provincial government’s revenue share from the divisive pool. Mr. Vijayan also accused the Centre of withholding the Union Government’s stake in mega infrastructure developmental projects in Kerala.

Given the Centre’s financial embargo, Mr. Vijayan said Kerala was struggling to spur development and pay welfare pensions promptly to an estimated 62 lakh beneficiaries.

He said the Cabinet had traversed the State for 36 days and told the people about the Centre’s brazen refusal to honour federal principles. He said the direct interactions helped the government to penetrate the smokescreen of lies propagated by the right-wing corporate media and lay bare the truth about the State’s finances to the people.

“Navkerala Sadas touched 140 Assembly constituencies and created momentum for the State’s development. People think that the Centre cannot hold the State to ransom financially. The government also sensed overwhelming support for the administration’s aspiration to transform Kerala into a knowledge economy”, Mr. Vijayan said.

He said the Centre could not ignore Kerala’s desire to transform itself into a developed economy for long. “The Union Finance Minister was constrained to say, though incorrectly, that the Centre did not deny the State its revenue share. The Minister also wrongly blamed the State’s financial crisis on the LDF government’s disbursal of welfare pensions and other social security initiatives”, Mr. Vijayan said.