Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal presents the State Budget.
Credit: PTI
Thiruvananthapuram: Unrest is brewing in the ruling CPM-led left front government in Kerala as ministers from CPI, the second largest party in the ruling front, have openly voiced concerns over lower budget allocations.
Food minister G R Anil and animal husbandry minister J Chinchu Rani had openly expressed their displeasure over the comparatively lower budget allocation made in the budget that was presented by finance minister K N Balagopal on Monday.
They also said that they would take up their grievances within the party and the government.
The finance minister responded that the the concerns of the food minister was owing to misunderstandings.
Sources said that already there was resentment within the ruling front for quite some time as many ministers from the coalition parties were lamenting that financial requests of their departments were getting a step motherly treatment from the finance department which is a portfolio held by the CPM.
Food minister was mainly aggrieved over the poor allocation for the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) especially since Supplyco had been suffering huge financial liabilities due to the supply of free ration kits as part of the government's policy.
While Anil said that only Rs. 10 crore was allocated for Supplyco in the budget, the finance minister clarified that Rs. 938 crore was allocated for ration subsidy, Rs. 557 crore for paddy procurement and Rs. 205 crore for market intervention. These were not mentioned in the budget speech and hence the food minister misunderstood, the finance minister later clarified.
Chinchu Rani lamented that the budget allocations for her departments were about 40 percent less compared to the last year and no fresh schemes were included in the budget.