Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP has degenerated into a party that derives pleasure from the suffering of people, alleged CPM leader E P Jayarajan. He stated that the remarks made by Union Ministers regarding the Wayanad issue are a clear indication of this.

He pointed out that the Wayanad disaster should have been included in the national disaster list. However, instead of doing so, the Central Government merely declared it a severe disaster. The state government had formulated a comprehensive master plan for the rehabilitation of the disaster victims and approached the Central Government for assistance. Since the Prime Minister personally visited the disaster-affected areas, the people of Kerala believed that substantial aid would be provided by the Centre. However, no such assistance was forthcoming, and no special package was allocated in the budget.

"What the Centre has done now is a cruel and inhumane act," Jayarajan alleged. "They are offering Wayanad a loan of Rs 530 crore, but it is not a special loan. It is merely a loan that can be sanctioned under Kerala's deposit loan scheme. The Centre claims that if the state government spends the entire amount within 45 days and submits an account of the expenditure, the loan will be granted under the deposit scheme. This childish stance is unacceptable," he asserted.

Jayarajan also questioned what was wrong with Shashi Tharoor's praise of Kerala’s industrial growth. He accused certain Congress leaders of unnecessarily escalating the issue and claimed that a major section of the Congress itself believes Tharoor is right.