Fuel cess protest: Kerala CM attacks UDF, BJP

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday launched a broadside against the Congress-led UDF over the opposition parties’ protest against the Left government’s refusal to rollback the budget proposals to levy cess on fuel and liquor sales, alleging it was siding with the BJP-led Centre’s policy of squeezing the southern state financially.

As the opposition parties intensified the protest against the Left government over the issue, the Chief Minister held a press conference in which he alleged that the UDF was keeping mum on the BJP government’s revengeful approach towards Kerala. Narrating the circumstances that forced the state government to make a proposal to levy social security cess on fuel, Vijayan claimed that it was the deregulation policies adopted by the previous Congress-led UPA government and current BJP-headed dispensation that led to the rise in fuel prices leading to inflation.

”The decision to levy Rs 2 on fuel was taken due to the BJP government’s revengeful approach towards Kerala. The central government’s approach is to defeat the state by squeezing its economy,” the Chief Minister alleged.