THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Turning on the heat in the final lap of the poll campaign by focusing on the state’s development, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday invited Pinrayi Vijayan, “the CM candidate of the LDF” to an “open discussion on a topic which has been conveniently avoided in the poll campaign so far”.
In a Facebook post, Chandy said the UDF Government had implemented development programmes on a scale not witnessed in the state in the last 30 years.
‘’The LDF is not making development a campaign plank in this elections on account of it. How can anyone turn a blind eye towards the development initiatives and commissioned projects under the UDF Government in the last five years?’’ he said.
The CM pointed out that Kerala was way ahead of several states in the country which would be borne out by the Human Development Index .’’It is at a par with developed nations like the UK and Germany,’’ Chandy noted,adding, Kerala’s growth rate (12.31% ) had overtaken the national average (10.5 % ) in the 2014-15 fiscal.
According to him, ‘’The UDF Government had implemented mega projects in infrastructure and industrial areas at a time when fast-pased growth in the agricultural,industrial and infrastructure sectors had become imperative for the state to maintain the Human Development Index”.
‘’Mega projects with a combined investment of `20,000 crore were taken up. The projects included Vizhinjam port, SmartCity,Kochi Metro, Kannur Airport and 245
bridges across the state. The government also came up with a scheme to take care of the poor and marginalised
sections in areas where mega projects were implemented. The foundation for the state’s fast-paced industrial growth and development has been laid by the UDF Government,’’ he affirmed.
Taking the fight to the rival camp, the Chief Minister sought to know the contributions made by the previous LDF Governments. ‘’In comparison, what did the LDF Governments which had ruled the state in the past do?’’
“Whenever the UDF ruled the state, the LDF opposed it under the cover of ideology and raising the bogey of corruption,land scam,real estate etc,’’ he said, adding, this was the reason why Kerala continued to lag behind in development.
Furthermore, Chandy said the UDF is seeking votes on the basis of high-visibility development projects.
’’The UDF is seeking votes in the Assembly polls by pointing out development which is visible to the people.” “For completing the development initiatives and to take up more ventures, continuation of the UDF rule is imperative,’’ he asserted.