Malayalis are in a state of not knowing whether to laugh or cry; Kerala budget is biggest joke of this decade, says V Muraleedharan

NEW DELHI: Union Minister V Muraleedharan said that the Kerala budget presented by KN Balagopal has no connection whatsoever with contemporary realities. Muraleedharan said that this budget was the biggest joke of this decade and that Malayalis are in a state of not knowing whether to laugh or cry after seeing it.

"The total expense of the MLAs who are going to protest against the Centre from Kerala will be Rs 50 lakh. The government, which cannot even pay pensions, should have included this in the budget. While other states will be protesting in Delhi asking for their share, Kerala will be protesting to get loans," Muraleedharan said.

Earlier, BJP state president K Surendran had also slammed the state budget.

"The state government is not interested in solving Kerala's crisis in any way. This is not a budget that puts forward practical measures for that. There are no measures in the budget to help farmers in Kerala. The reason for the state's financial crisis is Kerala's financial mismanagement. Kerala borrows money and squanders. In the past, there were long sentences about KIIFB in the budget. This time, it has been limited to just two sentences. This shows that KIIFB was a huge fraud," Surendran said.