CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karata on Friday said the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala “is a model for the party and we are taking it to the rest of the country”.
She also added that the party’s central leadership and the CPI(M)-led Kerala government were on the same page on the question of implementing the proposed SilverLine semi-high-speed project. Rubbishing reports of a divide over the project, she said the government was there to answer all the queries and that the LDF government and its policies were important for the party.
While the Centre and several States diluted the environmental impact assessment, Kerala was one of the States which refused to do that, she said.
Mohammed Salim, another Polit Bureau member and State secretary of the party in West Bengal, categorically denied that delegates from West Bengal at the party congress had raised concerns over the SilverLine project. “In Kerala, we have a well-organised party and an elected government which knows what’s best suited for the State. Kerala ranks alongside European countries in human development index and social development parameters. It has taken good care of the environment and why should anyone interfere in what the elected government is doing?” he asked during an interaction with The Hindu.
Mr. Salim said Kerala too had benefitted from the Konkan rail development, which cuts through several hills. He had himself pushed for an LRTS for West Bengal when he was a Member of Parliament. However, it failed to materialise, said Mr. Salim.
