THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The autocratic style of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF Government was visible from day one, said Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. Perhaps, 25 political murders in just 24 months mirrors the ‘uniqueness’ of the current government. Further, no government in the history of Kerala can claim nine lock-up murders under its belt within such a short span of time, he said, commenting on the second anniversary of the Left Government.
The Chief Minister, who had lashed out at mediapersons saying, “Get out, who invited you here?” during a meeting at a private hotel at the beginning of the government, was always mindful of keeping the stamp of his arrogance intact with his style of working all this while, he said.Be it the lock-up murder of Sreejith in Varapuzha, the incident in which cops dragged the mother of Jishnu Pranoy - the engineering student who hanged himself inside his hostel room - on the street or the suicide of Vinayakan in Thrissur, the Chief Minister had never been in a position to repent for the misdeeds of the Police Department led by him.
The unending stories of child abuse, harassment of women, the brutal murder of a foreign national right under the nose of the police in the capital city, the brutal lynching of a tribal youth in Attapadi by a mob are the achievements of the Pinarayi Vijayan government, he said.Can this government claim a single flagship project till date similar to the likes of Kochi Metro or Kannur airport or Vizhinjam port, which the previous UDF government had implemented during its tenure? asked Chennithala.
Forget the inefficiency of launching new projects, the LDF Government has failed miserably in even taking forward some of the projects, the first phases of which were successfully completed by the UDF Government, he said.The UDF was able to complete the first phase of the Kochi Metro in 45 months. The LDF should say whether it was able to take the work forward at a pace the UDF had done, in its first 24 months of office, said Chennithala.
The Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode Light Metro projects have almost reached a dead end, Metroman E Sreedharan was shown the door in an ignominious way by the Chief Minister, and the work on the Vizhinjam port - which was scheduled to be completed within 48 months - has reached nowhere when there is only 20 months left for the deadline of the project, he said.
A report tabled in the Assembly revealed that the loss of the pubic sector units has increased by around 73.66 per cent during the tenure of the LDF Government.The projects conceived by the LDF Government such as Haritha Keralam, Aardram and LIFE missions in place of the social security projects implemented by the UDF Government failed to take off, he said. Projects to extract sand from reservoirs, Islamic Bank and the much-touted KIIFB remain only on paper to some extent, he said.Is this the state of affairs the LDF had conceptualised through the slogan “LDF will come, everything will be alright?” he wondered.