'Even reasonable demands were not considered', Chief Minister lashes out at union budget

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday lashed out at the interim budget presented by the central government. The Chief Minister said that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget in a manner that did not consider the needs and interests of Kerala.

"The central government did not consider the state's demand to protect domestic rubber cultivation by increasing the import duty on rubber and other products. Kerala's paddy, banana, and spice cultivation were not given special consideration. The Centre did not allow new institutes like AIIMS to Kerala. None of the reasonable demands put forward by the state such as new trains, rail survey, Sabari rail line, track doubling etc were considered in the budget.," the CM said.

"If the country wants to develop, the states need to be strengthened. However, there is no measure in the budget to achieve this by 2047. Despite this being a year where the Lok Sabha elections are going to take place, the demands of the common people of the country or Kerala were not considered in the union budget. It has become more clear what approach the BJP government intends to take towards the poor people of the country and Kerala," he said.

The Chief Minister said that the Left Democratic Front government will continue to fight for the rights of the people of the state.