Kerala - Alappuzha   

Tsunami funds: Chandy sees malicious campaign

ALAPPUZHA: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Sunday dared the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to prove the allegations of diversion of tsunami funds levelled against him when he was the Chief Minister.

He was inaugurating a three-day coastal march of the Congress at Thottapally, near here.

Mr. Chandy said it was 17 months since the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) came to power. However, except for raising the allegations that he had diverted tsunami funds to Puthupally and Pala, it had not been able to prove anything.

“I have always been willing to face any kind of inquiry that they want to conduct against me. Let them show at least one project in Puthupally or Pala that was initiated using tsunami funds. But this sort of malicious campaign should not continue,” Mr. Chandy said.

The United Democratic Front (UDF) government, under his leadership, had done all that was possible to help the tsunami-hit coastal areas in the State. “The LDF, except for raising allegations against the Congress and giving false promises to the public, has not spent a single penny so far on tsunami rehabilitation,” he said.

He alleged that the CPI(M), in the name of ideology, had blocked Asian Development Bank officials who had come to inspect tsunami rehabilitation projects and thus tried to sabotage the UDF’s efforts to help the coastal people.

Mr. Chandy said he still believed that whatever decision he had taken as a Chief Minister on tsunami rehabilitationwas right.

Alappuzha MLA K.C. Venugopal challenged the LDF, particularly ministers M.A. Baby and T.M. Thomas Isaac, on issues regarding the LDF’s standoff with the Church. He said the Church was agitating for rightful reasons.

The LDF was lying blatantly on the Central guidelines regarding the tsunami funds to aided schools, he said.

The three-day coastal march led by Alappuzha District Congress Committee president A.A. Shukoor in protest against the diversion of tsunami funds by the LDF and the neglect of the Alappuzha coastal belt will be taken out from Thottapally to Chapakadavu.

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