THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Corporation will on Tuesday put to vote its budget proposals for the 2017-18 Financial Year (FY).
When the LDF-run civic body’s budget was debated on Monday, the chief Opposition BJP and Congress councillors mounted a no-holds-barred attack. If the heated debates were any indication it would be a tall task for the ruling Council to pass the budget.
The debate veered towards the state and national politics when the councillors made remarks against the Opposition parties based on ideological moorings.
While the Opposition targeted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the ruling LDF members spoke against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government at the Centre.
The debate was initiated by LDF councillor S Pushpalatha, who termed the budget woman- friendly and green. She countered the Opposition claim on majority of the announcements in the previous budget remaining unimplemented. “Fifty-two projects in the previous budget were implemented. Over 200 people received employment through projects such as Kudumbashree. The Modi government made tall claims about bringing back the black money stashed abroad. But we all know what has become of the claim,” she said.
M R Gopan, the BJP councillor from Nemom, said the budget did not contain proposals for reviving the water bodies or setting up a potable water project. “The budget depends on the cable operators to improve the revenue by collecting Rs 10 as exhibition fee. The development should not be restricted to the Mayor’s ward in Kazhakootam. The women face a lot of harassment in the state under the Pinarayi Government,” he said.
D Anil Kumar, the Congress councillor from Pettah, said the Pinarayi Government was the worst ever to come to power in the State. He also alleged the LDF and the BJP had a tacit agreement in the city Corporation right from the time V Sivankutty was the Mayor. “There is no respite for the people even after the Local Self-Government Department(LSGD) Minister led the adalat in the Corporation. The corruption continues unabated. The adalat handled only the files of the rich and the poor suffered as usual,” he said.
Anil Kumar called for releasing the list of the beneficiaries of the adalat.
Palayam Rajan of the Congress (S) flayed the Congress councillors for not voicing their protest when the Modi Government decided to replace the Planning Commission with the Niti Aayog.
Meanwhile, the combined strength of the UDF and the BJP has been posing a major headache to the ruling LDF. In the 100-member Council, the LDF has 44 members, the BJP 35 and the Congress 21 members.
The UDF finds itself in a catch-22 situation and it is making every effort to dispel the notion of the alliance having a tacit understanding with the BJP. If the UDF members voted against the budget, the LDF would allege a pact between the UDF and the BJP.