VD Satheesan and Pinarayi Vijayan. Photo: ANI, Mathrubhumi Archives
Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader VD Satheesan on Wednesday said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is standing upright on the crutches of the BJP and UDF does not need such kind of support.
The chief minister used the crutches of BJP national leadership to get through the SNC-Lavalin and even the controversial gold smuggling cases. We don't need any such things, Satheesan said.
CM on Tuesday had taken a dig at the Chintan Shivir of KPCC held recently in Kozhikode. He said there are no crutches in the LDF that are fit for the opposition party to revive its sagging political fortune in Kerala. He was responding to the 'open invitation' of Congress chief K Sudhakaran for the 'disgruntled' LDF constituents to the UDF.
Satheesan asked why the CM is getting irritated when UDF says it will expand its base. His insecurity is making him mock at others, he said.
Neither KPCC nor AICC is a right-wing organisation, said Satheesan. We believe in Nehruvian socialism. It is a CPM narrative that Congress is right-wing. Besides, CPM is not even Left. Modi is the extreme right-wing in India. The LDF government is right behind them, said Satheesan.
He also slammed the CM for his statement that he was not aware of KT Jaleel sending a letter to UAE Consular General to ban 'Madhyamam' newspaper. It is appalling that the CM has not sought any explanation from Jaleel yet, Satheesan said.
On SilveLine project, he said the LDF government had tried to impose the rail corridor upon the people of the state with arrogance and tried to suppress the protests with their power.
However, it seems that the CM's stand on the multi-crore project has changed now, he said, adding that the queries asked by the Congress-led UDF opposition still remain unanswered. "Why did the Vijayan government go forward with the project without getting a nod from the union government and the Railway Board? Why did they go ahead with the land acquisition procedures without preparing a complete Detailed Project Report (DPR)?," he asked during the press meet.
Alleging that the LDF government had shown unnecessary haste in the case of the Silver Line, Satheesan also charged that it has become evident now that what they eyed was large scale corruption by borrowing huge amounts as loan for the project.
The Congress leader warned that the proposed rail corridor would make the state more prone to natural disasters and would destroy the southern state financially like the neighbouring country Sri Lanka. "I would like to make it clear again that the Congress-led UDF will not allow the LDF government to implement the project in the state," the LoP added.
Chief minister on Tuesday had said that the Centre's current stand against the project was 'unfortunate'. Vijayan had said that after receiving in-principle approval for the project, the state government moved forward with it quickly and also initiated steps, like surveys and a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), without waiting for the final nod as it did not want to delay implementation of the rail corridor.
He also said the Silverline was not a pet project of the LDF government, rather it was a project for the state of Kerala and the ruling Left dispensation was only trying to implement it.
(With PTI inputs)
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