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Amid the Congress-led UDF protesting against the Rs 2 fuel cess and the "mounting public debt and extravagance" by the Kerala government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday slammed the Centre and the opposition here for scuttling the state's progress and said things are fine here.
The state budget, presented last Friday by Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, had introduced a Rs 2 fuel cess and that has led to massive protests by both the opposition UDF and the BJP, both inside the Assembly and outside. Interacting with media after quite some time, Vijayan said the Congress here is hand in glove with the Centre who are strangulating the state by not giving its due share through central grants and not giving the due share of central taxes that has been collected. "The opposition in the state is strangely not saying anything against the way the Centre is treating Kerala and instead they are spreading canards about the financial position of our state. Figures that are out in the open clearly indicate that things are fine in our state, but the opposition is spreading canards," he said. "The opposition here has only one agenda which is to speak against the state government here and if one looks into the response to the protests announced by them against the Rs 2 fuel cess, the people at large have not come out to support their protest and this clearly shows their protests have not evoked any response at all," added Vijayan and said the state budget has taken care of all departments through appropriate allocations. Vijayan asked the opposition here to cooperate with the state government which is working hard to protect the interests of the people here. --IANS sg/vd ( 300 Words) 2023-02-09-21:22:03 (IANS)
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