The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Members of Parliament (MP) have promised Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of political support while pushing for ₹24,000-crore special financial package for the state from the BJP-ruled Centre ahead of next week’s Union Budget Session.
Chief Minister Vijayan chaired a meeting of MPs from the state earlier this week to outline the economic priorities ahead of the budget session of Parliament. Union Minister of State (MoS) for Tourism Suresh Gopi, the only BJP MP from Kerala (Thrissur), didn’t attend the meeting. The Chief Minister requested the MPs to help the government evaluate national highway development and push for a ₹24,000-crore special financial package from the Centre.
The meeting also decided to pressure the Centre to allocate a ₹5,000-crore package to develop Vizhinjam International Seaport, according to reports.
UDF, LDF rivals in Kerala
The support assumes significance since opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by Communist Party of India (Marxist), are rivals in Kerala. Also, Vijayan had been attacking the Congress with his statements. In April, during the Lok Sabha polls, Vijayan hit out at its INDIA bloc ally Congress and said that the grand-old party ‘lacks any genuine ideological or practical motivation’ to oppose the BJP.
The two alliances contested the recent Lok Sabha elections 2024 separately in Kerala despite both alliances being part of the INDIA bloc. The UDF swept the elections winning 18 out of 20 seats, one less than in 2019. The LDF won one seat and the BJP also won one seat in the general elections.
In the meeting of MPs, Congress leader KC Venugopal, who is MP from Alappuzha seat, promised the Chief Minister Vijayan the Opposition’s support for securing financial requirements for Kerala from the Centre.
₹24,000-Cr special package
Last month, Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal called upon the Centre to announce the ₹24,000-crore special financial package for the state in the upcoming Union Budget 2024-25. This package, the minister said, is required to tide over the current liquidity stress.
The request was made during a pre-budget discussion held in Delhi, attended by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Ministers from various states.
Kerala, which has been grappling with the aftermath of repeated floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, is facing significant liquidity stress, the Minister had said, claiming that the state is finding it tough to manage its finances to meet its obligations due to factors such as reduced share from the divisible pool, lower revenue neutral rate post GST implementation and new restrictions on the borrowing limits.
Anomalies in Devolution
In February this year, months before general elections, leaders of various political parties joined the protest organised by the Kerala government at Jantar Mantar here against the alleged attacks on federalism by the Centre, especially the anomalies in devolution of resources.
“Ours is a democratic protest against the undoing of federal structure and the sheer discrimination against the States irrespective of north-south considerations. However, taking into account the interests of our people and our State, we cannot be quiet,” Vijayan said in the protest.
