TIRUNELVELI/MADURAI: Senior Kerala CPM leader and politburo member M A Baby on Tuesday accused the BJP government at the centre of designing the delimitation process with a ‘vested interest’ to benefit certain states, excluding Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Baby claimed that it was designed to benefit only a few regions, while states like TN and Kerala were likely to get a raw deal in the proposed exercise (parliamentary seat).
Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal also accused the centre of discriminating against states in fund allocation. “Based on Kerala’s population of 2.8 crore, the state should receive Rs 70,000 crore from the centre. However, we are given only Rs 34,000 crore,” he alleged.
Baby and Balagopal jointly addressed the media at the party’s district committee office in Rettiarpatti (Tirunelveli) before leaving for Madurai to attend the 24th party congress scheduled to be held from Wednesday (April 2-6).
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also arrived in Tirunelveli on his way to the CPM conference in Madurai. He briefly stayed at the circuit house. The collector welcomed him, and party functionaries, led by district secretary K Sriram, met him on Tuesday.
Baby said the conference will focus on the importance of cooperative federalism in India. “Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan, along with leaders from Karnataka and other states, will take part in the discussions,” he said.