Kerala CM Vijayan to meet FM Nirmala Sitharaman next week
Thiruvananthapuram: Amidst the appallingly poor financial situation that Kerala is going through, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is set to meet Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.
This was announced by former Congress leader and Union Minister K.V. Thomas, who after parting ways with the party, has become close to the CPI-M-led Left in Kerala. Given his long experience in the Centre, he is presently the state representative stationed in Delhi and is playing the role of interlocutor between the Centre and the state.
Thomas, who holds a state cabinet minister rank, on Friday met with Sitharaman ahead of Vijayan’s official meeting with her.
Vijayan will be raising, among other things, the special package that has been demanded for landslide-hit Wayanad and also about a possible relief for the hapless Asha workers whose protest before the state Secretariat demanding higher wages entered the 26th day on Friday.
But Thomas, speaking to the media in Delhi, lost his cool when he was repeatedly asked about the steps taken by the Vijayan government to end the ongoing protest of the Asha workers.
“There are other issues and not just the Asha workers protest,” a peeved Thomas said, as he walked away.
Incidentally, pressure is mounting on Vijayan over the steps taken by the Centre towards rebuilding Wayanad, which was hit by a landslide on July 30 last year, leaving four villages devastated and claiming 254 lives.
While the Vijayan government was expecting a Rs 2,500 crore rehabilitation fund, on February 14, the Centre informed the state Finance Department that a loan of Rs 529.50 crore has been sanctioned for various rehabilitation projects in landslide-hit areas. However, the Centre had pointed out that this amount has to be utilised before March 31
Vijayan, in his upcoming meeting with Sitharaman, will be seeking more time for utilisation of funds that have been sanctioned, and will be seeking a grant also as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he asked the state government to submit a detailed memorandum during his visit to Wayanad, soon after the tragedy.