Pinarayi reiterates resolve to implement K-Rail project
KANNUR: Welcoming delegates at the CPM Party Congress, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday reiterated his resolve to implement the SilverLine project. The Opposition parties are trying to stall the project, Pinarayi said.
He said the Left government is trying to implement the semi high-speed rail system to make travel possible from the state’s most southern district to the most northern district in just four hours. Efforts are on to get the central government approval, he pointed out.
“The opposition parties in the state are raising arguments which defy logic to stall this project. The government believes in developing infrastructure while doing justice by ensuring fair compensation to people who have to move out of their homes. Our party is organising mass campaigns to drive home this point. The state government is giving equal importance to economic growth, social justice, and protection of environment while implementing projects,” the chief minister said.
Pinarayi also drew attention to his ambitious move to rebuild Kerala through the widely discussed Nava Kerala document presented at the recent party state conference. Referring to the same, he said the first Left government in Kerala — which came to power in 1957 under EMS — functioned based on a resolution adopted at the 1956 Party Congress in Thrissur.
‘Only BJP can counter CPM’
T’Puram: Close on the heels of the CPM identifying BJP as its main enemy at the party congress, senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan said it proves only the saffron party can counter the Marxist party’s goondaism. The union minister said the BJP has been stopping the CPM from crushing democracy and insulting customs and beliefs. This is the reason why the CPM considers BJP as its main enemy, he said.
Muraleedharan said the Congress was incapacitated to take on the Marxist party and its leaders were vying to attend the party congress in Kannur. He said Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor too figured on the initial list of invitees to the seminar to be held as part of the party congress. “There seems to be no difference between the Congress and the party congress (of the CPM),” the minister said.