Kerala - Alappuzha   

Minister positive about negative list

ALAPPUZHA: Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi has said that the State’s anxiety over the Free Trade Agreement between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is more of a political nature.

Addressing a meet-the-press at the Alappuzha Press Club here on Sunday, Mr. Ravi said an unnecessary controversy was being kicked up over the negative list. Reiterating the Congress line that there was a negative list and that it was part of the deal, Mr. Ravi said the Left Democratic Front’s ‘false campaign’ on the issue would lose steam soon.

Why was the LDF not opposing the arrival of fish into Kerala from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh if it was concerned about the price of fish falling once the ASEAN deal was implemented, he asked. The LDF government had failed to ensure a minimum support price for coconut and to see that its procurement drive went along smoothly. The price of coconut had plummeted much before the ASEAN deal was signed and it was the Centre which hiked the price when the State failed to do so, he said.

Mr. Ravi, replying to questions on the support of religious organisations to the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the LDF, said the Congress was always secular and that no exceptions were offered to any organisation or party, be it the National Development Front (NDF) or the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Denying any knowledge of squads of the NDF or SDPI working for A.A. Shukoor, the Congress candidate in the Alappuzha Assembly bypoll, he said there were no tie-ups with any of these organisations.

Earlier, Mr. Ravi said the statement of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan that Central schemes would be implemented without fail from now on was a confession of sorts that all those days, the State government was not interested in taking up Centrally-sponsored schemes.

The delay in the completion of the Vallarpadam International Container Terminal Project was a result of this approach, he said, adding that the LDF government would have to be more enthusiastic and sincere towards the implementation of Central schemes.

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