“Whose Fear?”: Kerala Congress Leader On Chief Minister’s “40-Vehicle Convoy”

Kochi (Kerala):

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Kerala VD Satheesan on Monday claimed that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is traveling with 40 police vehicles in view of the ongoing protests against the government in the state.

“The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is protesting in 72 panchayats on the buffer zone issue along with agitation against the state budget. All parties, students, youth and women’s organizations are protesting. The chief minister, who said That the UDF only knows how to do satyagraha, traveling across Kerala with 40 police vehicles. What is the chief minister afraid of? he said.

He said that the UDF is protesting to highlight the issues of the people. Neither the UDF nor the Congress has made a U-turn like the CPIM, as they did during the earlier anti-computer, anti-tractor and anti-Asian Development Bank (ADB) protests.

Last week, UDF legislators and the Congress party’s youth wing protested against the Left government’s refusal to roll back the tax proposals on fuel and liquor and the social security cess announced in the budget.

Legislators march against the state budget from the MLA hostel to the state assembly to attend the budget session in the Kerala Assembly. While the youth wing of the Congress protested in Kochi and clashed with police personnel who used water cannons to disperse the protesters.

The protesters said that their protest will continue until the government changes its decision.

The Finance Minister of Kerala said on 7 February that the government would not cut the cess levied on fuel and liquor.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Satheesan had criticized the state budget, terming it unscientific.

The Congress leader said, “For the last few days, we are agitating inside and outside the assembly. Not only the opposition, the general public also believes that the government will be forced to withdraw some taxes. Unfortunately, the government is not ready to reduce taxes.”

He claimed that all these taxes are unscientific as they would lead to higher price rise and derail the state’s economy.

Mr Satheesan also attacked the government over the death of a literacy motivator who was reportedly upset over salary delay and committed suicide at his home in Pathanapuram last week.

“In the state, literacy campaigners have not been paid for six months. Beneficiaries of social security pensions, who are sitting at home, have not been paid for the last 14 months. Despite all this, the Kerala CM is saying that there There is no debt crisis in the state,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)