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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 29 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday announced the formation of a seven-member committee of state ministers, headed by Education Minister V. Sivankutty, to ban PM SHRI in the state and review the scheme.
“The implementation of the PM SHRI scheme will be put on hold until the committee report is received,” the chief minister said after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting. He said the decision will be officially informed to the Centre.
However, Vijayan shrugged off several questions on the change in his stance, saying everyone should wait for the committee to come back with its review report.
The announcement comes as the rift within the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) over the controversial Central Education Scheme has ended, with the CPI-M abandoning CPI’s firm stand and agreeing to a compromise formula.
After days of tension that threatened to split the ruling LDF, the state government announced the moratorium and will soon send a formal letter to the Center indicating the same.
Earlier in the day, CPI general secretary D. Raja, speaking in Delhi, said the PM-Shri issue “has been resolved for the time being”.
“All four of our ministers will attend the cabinet meeting. We are opposed to the National Education Policy (NEP), and that position will remain unchanged. The government will inform the Center accordingly,” he said.
CPI-M’s reconsideration comes after strong objections from its ally CPI, which warned of political consequences if the government goes ahead with the agreement.
Senior ruling front leaders said the conciliatory move has averted a major coalition crisis and ensured participation of all CPI ministers in Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
On the other hand, former state president of BJP K. Surendran on Wednesday described the Kerala government’s decision to withdraw from the PM SHRI agreement as “suicidal” and against the interests of the students of the state.
He said that Education Minister Shivankutty himself has admitted that there are no flaws in the PM SHRI scheme.
Surendran said, “The state cannot easily walk away from the agreement. Nothing can be done unilaterally and all clauses of the MoU have to be respected.”
He said Vijayan would not be able to back out of the agreement just to please the CPI.
“By succumbing to political pressure, the government is depriving the children of Kerala of the benefits enjoyed by their counterparts across India,” he alleged. Surendran said the move has undermined the government’s credibility and demanded that it apologize to the state’s educational community and the public.
He also accused the CPI of “arrogance that will harm the state”, saying its stubbornness had forced the LDF government to take decisions detrimental to the educational interests of Kerala.
–IANS
SG/VD