MALAPPURAM: Senior UDF leader and IUML National General Secretary P. K. Kunhalikutty has praised the LDF government’s determination to push forward the national highway project while mounting a scathing attack on its economic record.
“The Left government had shown ‘great enthusiasm and determination’ in acquiring land for the highway. I have praised many LDF government projects in the assembly itself,” he said.
However, Kunhalikutty warned of a deepening fiscal crisis, said the state treasury was being misused and cautioned that it should not be bankrupt. He added that the burden of such misgovernance would ultimately fall on the people.
The IUML leader accused the government of reckless and unnecessary spending, arguing that the state has been pushed into a difficult economic corner. He also said aggressive trade unionism under the Left has tarnished Kerala’s image as an investment-friendly destination.
Kunhalikutty credited the previous UDF dispensation for transforming Kakkanad into a thriving IT hub through projects such as Technopark, Infopark and SmartCity Kochi. “I challenge the LDF government to name a single comparable achievement delivered under its tenure. It was the UDF government and myself as the IT minister converted the marshy land of Kakkanad to an hub,” he said.
He later downplayed the government’s role in the national highway and added: “the NH corridor also goes beyond Kanyakumari and Manglore. So the government cannot raise these NH roads as their achievement.”