Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Opposition demands inquiry

Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) on Wednesday demanded a comprehensive inquiry by an Assembly committee into the alleged leak of the Governor’s address to the House. It termed the Governor’s address as a document of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s non-performance.

Reacting to the Governor’s address (at the beginning of the first session of the year), Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy said none of the proclamations in last year’s address had been implemented. Many of the proposals had been formulated during the UDF’s rule. The Governor’s speech, indicative of the government’s policies and perspectives for the coming year, hardly reflected the current thinking in government. It did not have any proposal to tackle price rise that had left the State in a bad shape and corruption was at its peak.

Referring to the HMT land deal, he said the LDF decision to seek the Advocate-General’s opinion was intended to protect the accused. The final word on the HMT land deal rested with the Revenue Department.

The department had said that the land in question could not be transferred. This was followed up by the Law Secretary’s and the Chief Secretary’s report. But this has been set aside.

He criticised the government for the casual manner in which the Governor’s speech was handled, leading to its leak in the press. (A local Malayalam language daily had carried exclusive reports of the Governor’s address). The Governor’s speech had been approved by the Cabinet and was a secret document.

It had now turned out that the government went through the process in a routine manner.

Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani wanted a comprehensive probe by an Assembly committee into the leak. The Law Minister and the Law Secretary should be kept away from office during the probe. He said that under Article 176 of the Constitution, the Governor’s address had the nature of a Cabinet document.

He said the claim in the Governor’s address that loans worth Rs.25,000 each taken by farmers had been written off under the debt relief programme was incorrect. Last year’s budget had earmarked Rs.100 crore for providing debt relief to farmers. But the amount remained unspent, he said.

Contrary to expectations, the UDF could not present a united picture at the joint press conference as the Indian Union Muslim League and the other coalition partners did not turn up for the customary joint press conference that is held after the Governor’s address. Nationalist Congress Party leaders also took care not to make an appearance on the Opposition platform.

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