Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal has hit out at Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal for ‘mishandling’ the financial situation in the state and said that it is the Kerala government that is doing politics over the issue, not Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi.
Venugopal, while speaking to ANI said that Rahul Gandhi is ready to cooperate with the Kerala government for the betterment of the state.
“Kerala’s finance minister is mishandling the financial situation in the state. Rahul Gandhi is not responsible for all of this. We will stand for Kerala. He is ready to cooperate with the Kerala government for the betterment of the state. But the entire Kerala government is doing politics,” KC Venugopal said.
On Friday Balagopal addressing a press conference had alleged that Congress MPs in the State did not sign a memorandum prepared by the state government to be submitted to the Central government on the fiscal crisis being faced by the State.
He further said that Congress should stop playing petty politics on this issue and support the state government.
“Very important leaders like Rahul Gandhi an MP from Kerala and Congress are playing pretty politics on the issues of the people of Kerala. Congress people are supporting the BJP government. The people of Kerala are facing difficulties,” the state finance minister said
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has also accused Balagopal of failure to manage the state’s finances even as the latter revealed that the state was in an extremely dire financial situation due to a lack of funds from the central government.
“Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal has completely failed in the management of finance source of Kerala. Actually speaking Kerala is now in a debt trap. The government has no idea how to get over it. The wasteful expenditure has not been corrected. Corruption is one of the major issues in the state. The revenue generation is not at all in the expected line,” Chennithala told reporters.
The Congress leader alleged that total failure in financial management has created havoc in the financial sector of the state.
“Still, he’s blaming the Congress MPs. I wonder how he can blame the Congress MPs on this issue. We are not ruling the state and as and when the time comes we are raising this issue in the Parliament. Our MPs are very vocal in the Parliament stating more financial resources to the state. It’s our general stand, to ask for the finance commission’s report, Kerala needs more and more support from the centre,” Chennithala said.