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New Delhi/Alappuzha (Kerala), Oct 27 (IANS) The rift within Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) over the government’s signature on the Centre’s PM Sree scheme deepened on Monday, as efforts to resolve the impasse between the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) appeared to have failed in a nearly 50-minute meeting between the chief ministers. Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam.
The meeting was called to resolve differences over the state government’s decision to sign the Centre’s PM Shree School Development Scheme without any discussion in the cabinet.
Speaking to the media immediately after the meeting, Viswam said that the discussion was cordial, but no concrete solution emerged from it.
“Our issues have not been resolved, our talks were cordial, but our problem remains the same,” he said.
Soon after Viswam spoke to the media, CPI general secretary D. Raja told the media in Delhi that the state leadership met in Alappuzha on Monday and discussed the PM-Shri issue.
“Our party is of the view that we cannot agree on NEP 2020 as it is a dangerous policy of the Center and we have always opposed it. In this context, our party has expressed its opposition to the signing of the MoU. During the meeting with the CM, our (State) Secretary Viswam reiterated the stand. He has asked him (CM Vijayan) to stop the MoU. Our position remains the same, and we will continue to discuss further. Kerala Government write to He asked the Center to withdraw what was signed.
These comments by top leaders reflect the CPI’s continued dissatisfaction over the government’s unilateral decision to sign off on the PM SHRI scheme without prior consultation.
CPI, the second largest constituent of the LDF, has publicly said that the government did not consult the Center before signing the agreement and such unilateral decisions are against the spirit of coalition politics.
Meanwhile, there are reports that four CPI candidates in the Vijayan cabinet may skip the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday to send a strong political message that their party “cannot be taken lightly”.
The move also marks the most serious tension within the LDF in recent years.
The last time CPI ministers had staged a similar protest was in 2017, when they boycotted the Cabinet after Chief Minister Vijayan refused to act on their demand to remove the then Transport Minister Thomas Chandy following the High Court’s adverse remarks.
What hurt CPI the most was that in the last Cabinet meeting, its nominee and State Revenue Minister K. Rajan had raised the issue with Vijayan regarding the PM-SHRI issue, but Vijayan knew that the PM-SHRI program had been signed, so he maintained silence.
–IANS
SG/VD