Kerala CM, LoP spar over local bodies’ funds for event
Vijayan accused Satheesan of threatening the chairperson of Paravur municipality after he agreed to give ₹1 lakh for the outreach programme from the fund of the urban local body
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan locked horns on Friday over the financial contributions of local bodies for the ongoing ‘Nava Kerala Sadas’ programme of the state government.
Vijayan accused Satheesan of threatening the chairperson of Paravur municipality, which falls in the latter’s assembly constituency, after he agreed to give ₹1 lakh for the outreach programme from the fund of the urban local body. The Congress-led UDF has boycotted the government programme, alleging that it was simply a ploy to waste financial resources at a time when the state was facing a crunch.
“The Opposition leader’s move against the Paravur municipality is an attempt to keep the local self-government bodies in a tight grip by not allowing them to function independently. A municipality council which was democratically elected had decided unanimously to give ₹1 lakh for the Nava Kerala Sadas. The threat to fire him if the money is given cannot be accepted by society. The immature action of the opposition leader, who is also an MLA from Paravur, should not have taken place,” the CM said on Friday.
“There are two problems here. One, to drag the local governance system onto a narrow and viciously anti-democratic path. Two, the decision to boycott the programme taken by the Congress is not even acceptable to their own public representatives at the grassroots level. The party cannot even convince its own members,” the CM said.
In response, Satheesan argued that the order of additional chief secretary Sarada Muralidharan on November 1 directing local bodies to arrange funds for Nava Kerala Sadas was illegal. “Neither the state government nor its officials have the authority to ask for money from own funds of panchayats, municipalities and corporations. Chapter 5 of the Kerala Municipality Act makes it clear. A government which cannot pay welfare pensions and salaries is illegally asking municipalities for funds,” he said.
He alleged that the Paravur municipality secretary went against the council’s decision of not to give funds for the Nava Kerala Sadas.
