Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement that his foreign trip was a success has been dismissed as a “bluff” by the Congress-led Opposition.
Vijayan met the media here on Tuesday night to explain the trip the delegation made to Finland, Norway, London and Wales, and claimed it to be a “huge success”.
Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, Leader of Opposition, V.D.Satheesan demanded that Vijayan should come out with a progress card on his previous visits, and despite numerous requests earlier there has been no response from him.
“We are never against foreign trip of a Chief Minister or Ministers, but the people would like to know the progress. In 2019 Vijayan went to Japan and South Korea and after returning he announced that Rs 300 crore investment would be made by two Japanese companies. Then he talked about a Lithium battery manufacturing plant by Toshiba and another one was a proposal by Toyota,” said Satheesan.
“Again in 2019 he went to Holland and there was a big announcement about a project, ‘room for river’. And does anyone know what happened to it? Then came an e-bus proposal from Switzerland and a fisheries project. Does anyone know what’s the fate of all these announcements? Nothing has happened as everything is on paper only. Then there was a big investment meeting held in 2020 at Kochi and soon came the announcement of Rs 22,000 crore, does anyone know if anything has happened. In Kerala it’s only announcements and nothing else,” added Satheesan.
He slammed Vijayan and his cabinet as the Kerala economy is in tatters.
“Last season 1.75 lakh tons of paddy was procured from the farmers, now this time only 5,000 tons have been procured and lakhs of tons of paddy is lying with the farmers and precious time is being lost. Any more delay will cause huge losses to the farmers. Price of coconut and rubber has dipped and after the Onam season the price of rice has gone up by Rs 11 per kg. No steps have been taken for market intervention. People have started to ask if there is a government at all in Kerala,” asked Satheesan.
He also pointed out that the opposition has behaved in a responsible manner and will continue in the same manner.
–IANS