THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Friday alleged that the Congress MPs backed out from their promise to meet Union ministers to discuss the fiscal crisis faced by the state government. The latest MPs’ conference convened by the state government had unanimously decided to send a joint delegation to meet the Union ministers, Balagopal said at a press conference here on Friday.
“The UDF MPs are siding with the Union government in pushing the state into a fiscal crisis. They have cheated the people,” he said. The minister said the MPs had the responsibility to ensure that the state gets its due share of funds from the Centre.
Instead, they sabotaged the state government’s attempts in this regard, he said. Balagopal alleged that the Congress MPs did not sign a memorandum prepared by the state government to be submitted to the Central government.
Balagopal asked the UDF leadership to state its stand on the issue. “They should tell the people whether it is their policy. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, an MP from Kerala, should also protect the state’s rights,” he said.
Government clearing dues
The minister said the government was taking earnest efforts to clear the dues to different stakeholders.
The pending dues to farmers on account of paddy procurement will be cleared before Onam. A total of Rs 50 crore was sanctioned for clearing salary dues of school noon-meal workers, he said.
The minister said the government sanctioned Rs 19,000 crore for various expenses related to Onam. As many as 13 lakh government employees and pensioners were given bonuses or festival allowances. An amount of Rs 25 crore was given as a bonus for workers in the lottery sector.