Pathanamthitta: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan justified the visit of CPM leaders to the house of Sherin who was killed in a bomb blast at Kannur's Panoor. Addressing the media here on Monday, the CM termed the visit as a 'humanitarian approach'.
On April 5, a bomb blast on the terrace of an under-construction house at Panoor left Sherin killed and four others injured. According to police, the deceased and others met with the accident while making bombs. Though reports claimed that all the people involved in making the explosives were CPM activists, the party dismissed it.
But questioning this claim, visuals of Panoor CPM area committee member Sudheer Kumar and Poyiloor local committee member A Ashokan visiting Sherin's house came out putting the party in a tough spot.
“Visiting the house of a person who died is a part of the culture. CPM leaders visited the house of Sherin as a humanitarian act,” the Chief Minister argued. He also rubbished the CPM area secretary's statement on lapses in restricting the party members from visiting the house of the deceased.
Talking about the case, the Chief Minister said that strict action would be taken against the accused.
Pinarayi, however, chose to mock the questions posed by the reports about senior nursing officer P B Anitha's protest at the Kozhikode Government Medical College and her reinstatement. “Kozhikode Medical College is the best medical college in the state,” he said sneering at the media person who asked the question when he was concluding the press conference. He also abruptly ended the presser after that answer
BJP, Congress target KIIFB
Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the BJP and the Congress were targeting the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) despite it ensuring developments in the constituencies across the state without political considerations. He accused Congress of acting as an agent for the central investigative agencies which have launched a probe against the KIIB for political purposes.
Criticising the Congress and the BJP over their stand on KIIFB, a Special Purpose Vehicle for mobilising and channeling funds to the various infrastructure projects, Vijayan said all transactions of the agency were transparent.
"Even though all of its dealings are transparent, the central investigative agencies are trying to implicate KIIFB. The opposition Congress is assisting the central agencies to implicate KIIFB, and it amounts to betraying the state. The development projects under KIIFB have equally benefited all the constituencies across the state without any political affiliation," he said.
He alleged that there is a conspiracy behind targeting the KIIFB which has aided the government in achieving the development goals of the state. The senior Left leader also said the union government was accusing Kerala of poor financial management due to political reasons.
"Every government requires funds to complete development projects, and Kerala is no different. We have been effectively managing our finances despite the financial crunch. However, the Union government alleges that there is financial mismanagement in the state. The union finance minister is making such claims for political reasons," CM said. But at the same time, Kerala bagged 24 awards from NITI Aayog last year alone which includes sectors like general education, public health and UN sustainable development goals among others, he said.
(With PTI inputs)
