Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 18 (IANS) CWC member and senior Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday accused Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of using his Middle East tour as a political exercise ahead of the Assembly elections, rather than a trip aimed at securing investments for the state.

Chennithala said the government was “emptying the state exchequer” to fund what he called an election-oriented foreign tour.

Kerala will see the local body elections in a few weeks from now and the assembly polls in April/May.

“The Chief Minister’s priority is not the welfare of Kerala, but the electoral interests of his party. The government is seeing this foreign trip with elections in mind,” said Chennithala.

Vijayan reached Bahrain on Thursday and will visit the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

Incidentally, in the course of this marathon Middle East tour, he will return to Kerala twice, and the tour finishes on the 30th of this month.

Also accompanying him is his trusted close aide, State Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian.

Saudi Arabia was also on the list, but the approval for it was denied by the Centre.

The Congress leader pointed out that from 2016 to 2025, Vijayan and his team had undertaken nearly 25 foreign trips, none of which, he claimed, yielded any tangible economic benefit to the state.

“The government’s own agency — Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation — admitted in a reply to an RTI query that not even a single Memorandum of Understanding has been signed as a result of these foreign visits. Not a single rupee of investment has flowed into Kerala from them,” he said.

Chennithala alleged that the government was misusing foreign visits to build political capital and mobilise support from expatriate communities ahead of the polls.

“What didn’t happen in nine years won’t happen now. Even a child can see the political motive behind this tour,” he quipped.

–IANS

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