Exactly a week after claiming that there was no financial crisis in Kerala, Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, accused by the Opposition of pushing the State into administrative paralysis due to the pressures on him over his alleged involvement in the solar scam, admitted on Wednesday that the State was facing financial crisis and price rise was an undeniable reality.
“Who can say there is no price riseIJ Indeed, there is price rise. That is why the Government is considering measures to control it. What should a Government do in times of crisisIJ We are doing that,” Chandy told mediapersons when asked about State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala’s criticism that the Government’s efforts were not enough to control rising prices.
Chandy’s admission on the State’s financial crisis and situation of rising prices came within 72 hours of his Finance Minister KM Mani of the Kerala Congress (M) stating that price rise was not
Kerala-specific but “it is a global phenomenon and a national problem” and tha “Kerala Government alone could do nothing to control the price rise.”
Chandy himself had said last week, “There is no financial crisis in Kerala though there are some problems” when even officials in the Department of Finance were admitting that the financial condition was in a critical stage and that was why Government employees were not being given the full salary of September as advance payment for Onam festival.
In a note sent to the Chief Minister, his arch rival in the Congress party Ramesh Chennithala had severely criticised the Government for not taking enough steps to control the skyrocketing prices even in the context of the Onam festival. According to Chennithala, the Government’s intervention in the market for price-controlling was not systematic and sufficient.
Chennithala leveled the allegations amidst complaints from the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) and Cooperative Consumer Federation (ConsumerFed) that the Department of Finance had not allocated the promised funds for opening special Onam sales outlets in the State. left with no other option, Chandy said he was viewing Chennithala’s letter and the criticisms it carried positively.