Vijayan miffed as PM avoids team Kerala

KOCHI: An all-party delegation from Kerala — including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the opposition leader and other senior leaders — that was to travel to New Delhi on Thursday to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi about problems faced by cooperative banks, has cancelled its trip after the PMO denied permission for the meeting.

The Prime Minister’s Office has directed the delegation to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley but Vijayan said there is no need for an all-party delegation to travel to the capital just to meet the finance minister.

The chief minister and Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac have already met Jaitley on the issue.

The delegation decided to meet the Prime Minister after Kerala assembly passed a resolution asking the Centre to stop targeting cooperative banks. The resolution had the support of all except lone BJP member O Rajagopal.

Vijayan said the resolution will now be delivered to the PMO through officials. He added that the refusal to meet the state delegation showed total lack of respect for the people of the state.

“One cannot expect democratic values from a government led by an organisation that consider Hitler and Mussolini as their models,” said Vijayan, adding that no one can destroy the cooperative sector in the state.

Calling Modi a “dictator,” leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala said his actions were unbecoming of the high office he held. No other Prime Minister has insulted Kerala like this, Chennithala said.

He said that Modi is trying to break the federal structure of the state. A BJP delegation from the state met the finance minister Arun Jaitley to discuss the problems faced by the cooperative banks.

They also raised the issue of hardships faced by the farmers and the small depositors in getting their funds from the primary cooperative banks.

They asked the finance minister to tighten the regulatory framework so that the banks comply with the regulatory norms.