Apart from Rs 24,000 crore special financial assistance package to tide over the financial crisis, setting up of an unit of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kerala and Rs 5,000 crore special package for infrastructure development at the Vizhinjam International Seaport were the key demands of Kerala.
Even Gopi himself had earlier mentioned about the need for AIIMS in Kerala. Since rare diseases are being increasingly reported in Kerala, the need for AIIMS in Kerala assumed more significance.
Other long pending demands included enhancing support price of rubber were also ignored.
Kerala finance minister K N Balagopal said that the centre has done away with cooperative federalism by showing discrimination to the state in the budget. The priority of the budget was to please BJP's coalition partners at the expense of others.
Meanhwhile, Kerala BJP president K Surendran countered that the centre did not cut any allocations to the state and hence the state finance minister's allegation of discrimination was "misleading". "Projects like AIIMS need not be necessarily announced in the budget," he said.
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Published 23 July 2024, 11:13 IST