Opposition questions state financial report; Pinarayi Vijayan launches counter-white paper

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has released a "counter-white paper" challenging the UDF government's assessment of the state's financial situation. The document serves as a direct rebuttal to the government's recent white paper, which had attributed the current economic crisis to the alleged financial mismanagement and extravagance of the previous administration.

Addressing the findings, Pinarayi dismissed the government's claims that the state is burdened by a debt exceeding ₹1 lakh crore. He accused the ruling coalition of engaging in false propaganda and failing to provide substantive evidence to support these figures. According to Pinarayi Vijayan, the white paper is a strategic attempt to preemptively justify the government's failure to honor its pre-poll commitments.

Pinarayi further alleged that several essential welfare measures, including salary revisions for state employees, pension schemes, financial assistance for women, and pensions for expatriates, are already being compromised. He argued that the stalling of these initiatives signals a wider pattern of broken promises by the administration.

The Opposition Leader also questioned the government's silence regarding its earlier allegations of a ₹25,000 crore inter-state tax leakage. He noted that while the UDF had made this claim a central point of criticism while in opposition, the administration has failed to address the issue since assuming power.

Asserting that the government's narrative has a limited shelf life, Vijayan stated that the counter-white paper was compiled to defend the previous administration's record by utilizing factual data to refute what he described as a campaign of disinformation.