V.K. Sreekandan, MP of Palakkad, has lashed out at the State government for doing nothing constructive for the proposed coach factory at Kanjikode.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Sreekandan said that he had raised the matter 14 times in the Lok Sabha when the State government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had done nothing for the coach factory.
The CPI(M) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had raised allegations of neglect and failure against Mr. Sreekandan in getting the proposed coach factory sanctioned.
Mr. Sreekandan said here that the BJP and the CPI(M) were playing cheap politics ahead of the general elections.
He said that he had constantly raised the demand for the Kanjikode coach factory since he became an MP, but the different Railway Ministers offered vague answers. “I even demanded a coach maintenance factory, if the coach factory proposal was not feasible. But it was also turned down by the Central government,” he said.
He said that the State government had never included the coach factory proposal as an official demand of the State. “The State government stood with the Centre in the coach factory demand,” he said.
“The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is completing eight years in the State and the BJP government is completing 10 years at the Centre. But neither of them did anything for the coach factory,” said Mr. Sreekandan.
He accused the LDF government of asking the Centre to return the land acquired and handed over to the Centre by the United Democratic Front government for the proposed coach factory at Kanjikode. “By demanding the land back, the LDF has proved that it was against the coach factory,” said Mr. Sreekandan.
