Ramesh Chennithala claims Pinarayi Vijayan govt has lost confidence of people of Kerala, CM says opposition disunited

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], Aug 24 : Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) moved a no-confidence motion against the CPM-led government in Kerala on Monday with the Opposition Leader in the Legislative Assembly Ramesh Chennithala supporting the motion and stating that Pinarayi Vijayan government has completely lost the confidence of people of Kerala.
"As the ruling party has the majority we know that the no-confidence brought by United Democratic Front (UDF) will fail. But Pinarayi Vijayan government has completely lost the confidence of people of Kerala," Chennithala said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan countered the opposition's charges and said that the issues raised by them in Assembly prove that they lack confidence about what they are claiming.
"UDF does not have unity and there are issues within their front. They have lost the people's support. They are disturbed by all this. I doubt that they brought the no-confidence motion to cover up all this," Vijayan said.
Leader of Opposition Chennithala further said: "When I raised issues in which M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to CM, was involved in the gold smuggling case, Pinarayi Vijayan said I was raising baseless allegation against an honest official. Pinarayi Vijayan should make clear is he still holds the same opinion. All issues I raised against the government have proved right."
The UDF leader further accused the government stating that in Life Mission Project Rs 4.20 crore was given as commission for a Rs 20 crore project.
"The government is neck-deep in corruption. KT Jaleel who flouted all norms and has links with gold smuggling accused is being protected by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Jaleel, to cover up his act, brought in religion. I want to ask whether this is the communist method. Why is Pinarayi Vijayan hesitant to ask for his resignation letter?" he questioned.
Meanwhile, MK Muneer, IUML MLA and deputy opposition leader in the assembly said that the Chief Minister is acting as if he is unaware as regards reports of the accused in gold smuggling case wielding influence in his office.
"Pinarayi Vijayan had said that let the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe the gold smuggling case. The same ED has told the court that the accused Swapna Suresh had significant influence in the CM office. Sivasankar was questioned by NIA and other agencies. But Chief Minister is saying he did not know what was happening in his office," Muneer said.
The State Health Minister KK Shailaja, while speaking opposing the no-confidence motion, recounted the state's efforts in tackling the COVID-19 situation effectively.
"After COVID-19 was reported, medical service corporation carried out an excellent work to procure necessary health precaution materials including PPE kits. There was no shortage in Kerala as the state had stocked PPE kits that were procured during the outbreak of Nipah," she said.
She further stated that the accusations of the opposition insinuating that the government purchased PPE kits at higher rates is baseless.
"All purchase was done in a transparent manner. The allegation raised by MK Muneer of government purchasing PPE kits at higher rates is baseless. The government, during all purchases, looked at quality and also followed procedures to procure the PPE kits at a lower cost. All records can be audited and there was no corruption involved as it was in a transparent manner," Shailaja said.
"We created a cluster management strategy and now coastal management strategy is being carried out to contain the COVID spread. In the initial phase, Kerala was able to successfully contain the disease. But after the lockdown was lifted, with the expatriate population returning the number of cases began to increase in the state," she added.