Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 15 The Congress on Wednesday slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his upcoming statewide trip, along with all the cabinet ministers, on a luxury Mercedes Benz coach - to meet the people.
Vijayan's trip will cover all the 14 districts of the state and the 140 assembly constituencies as part of meeting the people.
As per a Government Order the other day, Rs 1 crore has been sanctioned to get the luxury coach ready, which according to sources has two bio toilets and state of the art features.
Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said that only an "autocratic" leader like Vijayan can plan such a trip on a luxury coach, when the state is reeling under severe fund shortage.
"Pensions are not being paid on time, people are not getting the basic essential items at fair price shops, all because there is no money and it’s that time this luxury bus travel and that too to meet the people who are struggling to meet both ends meet. One will have to wait and see what sort of reception the tour party will get," he said, adding that Vijayan should have used a state transport bus instead.
Congress MP and former CM K. Karunakaran's son K.Muraleedharan took pot shots at Vijayan, saying that this luxury coach is a palace on the road and it is a half an aircraft.
"What we are given to understand is half the coach is for Vijayan, while the rest half is for the other 20 cabinet ministers. Then there is a suite room too. Fail to understand why this luxury to meet the people," he added.
Rebutting these allegations, State Transport Minister Antony Raju said it was decided to travel in a bus because just imagine if the entire cabinet members travelled individually and the security vehicles would have created a huge crowd of vehicles.
"All what the Opposition is now saying is baseless," he asserted.
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