Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on both the BJP-led Union government and the Congress-led Opposition in the State, accusing the Centre of attempting to financially choke Kerala while the Congress remained conspicuously silent on the issue.
He alleged that the Congress, instead of resisting the Centre’s discriminatory approach, was effectively acting as the BJP’s B-team by aligning itself with the latter’s policies and political strategies.
Mr. Vijayan said the Union Budget had once again laid bare the Centre’s sustained and deliberate neglect of Kerala, driven by political hostility towards the State for refusing to align with the BJP.
He was inaugurating the South Zone Vikasana Munnetta Jatha at Chelakkara, led by CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam.
The Chief Minister said Kerala’s long-pending demand for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences had been ignored yet again in the Budget, despite the State’s strong record in public health. He noted that the State had proposed multiple locations, including land in Kozhikode district, and had repeatedly taken up the matter with the Prime Minister, only to face disappointment year after year.
“The people of Kerala are being punished for not accepting the BJP,” Mr. Vijayan alleged, asserting that development funds were being withheld as a political weapon.
He further accused the Congress of failing to raise its voice against the Centre’s discrimination in the Union Budget. “They did not utter a single word against the Centre’s neglect of Kerala. The scenes witnessed in the Assembly are shameful. They do not want a discussion on the State Budget,” he said.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Viswam said blind hostility towards the Left was the common factor uniting both the BJP and the Congress. Accusing the BJP-led Union government of imposing what he termed a “financial embargo” on Kerala, he said the State had virtually no place in the Union Budget.
“What the Centre has towards Kerala is hatred, hostility and fear. This is nothing but a financial embargo,” Mr. Viswam said, asserting that Kerala would not bow down. “If we lose, India itself will lose,” he added, describing the LDF as “a light lit by the people in the southern corner of the country.”
Jatha manager M. Swaraj, leaders of various LDF constituent parties, and supporters participated in the programme.
Published – February 03, 2026 09:24 pm IST
