The lone Bharatiya Janata Party MLA O.Rajagopal has accused Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac of conducting himself in a feudalistic manner as if he is doling out sops to the poor and the marginalised.
Reacting to the revised budget for 2016-17 presented in the Assembly on Friday, Mr.Rajagopal told reporters that Dr. Isaac had bid adieu to Marxian economics and drifted to the capital market. After quoting Sree Narayana Guru, the Minister had not made any proposal for the uplift of the poor and the marginalised sections. The plea of the landless and the demand for second phase of land reforms went unheeded.
The budget was a mere replication of the schemes rolled out by the Centre but had been repackaged in new names. He cited the example of Kudumbasree launched by the LDF government in 1997, when A.B.Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. Now the CPI(M) was using the Kudumbasree Mission as an adjunct of the party, he said.
While liberally announcing funds for schemes and individuals, the government chose to ignore Thullal exponent Kunjan Nambiar. The budget lacked a development philosophy, he said. —Special Correspondent
