Kerala - Alappuzha   

Try to set things right in INTUC, says Isaac

ALAPPUZHA: Reacting to Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy’s criticism that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was 15 years late in realising the ill-effects of ‘nottakkooli,’ Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said it was not just Left-backed unions that were engaged in extracting payment for no work, but also the right wing INTUC.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Mr. Isaac said the CPI(M) knew how to handle its unions and to correct them.

The Congress should focus on setting right the wrong practices of the INTUC. The State government, meanwhile, would take all steps possible to put an end to the practice of ‘nottakkooli,’ he said, adding that the CPI (M)’s State secretary himself had endorsed this view.

Several hundreds of projects in the State, a majority of them in Alappuzha were delayed with no takers for tenders called by the government due to the system of payment for no work. Such trends would be stopped by the LDF government, the Minister said.

On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement of politicisation of the food security issue, Mr. Isaac said Mr. Singh should convey that message to the Congress in Kerala and not to the Left-led State government, which had asked only for what it was entitled to.

“Asking for our rights does not mean that we are politicising the issue. The Prime Minister should tell the Congress to desist from doing so,” he said. The State’s quota was cut down for failure (of the State) to lift its share from the Central pool.

“But it is not the LDF that should be blamed for that. The quota was not lifted in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, when the UDF was in power. The quota for Andhra Pradesh too was cut, but restored after the State asked for its rights.

The Congress in Kerala has fallen to such a level that it is not even ready to fight for the State’s rights with the Centre,” he added.

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