Kochi (Kerala) [India], February 11 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday visited the HMT (Hindustan Machine Tools) Limited unit in Kochi's Kalamassery area and outlined his party's vision for transforming Kerala into a manufacturing and investment hub under the mission 'Viksit Keralam'.
During his visit, the BJP state chief met with HMT management and unions to understand the challenges facing the public-sector unit and the manufacturing sector in Kerala.
"I'm visiting HMT as part of understanding what is ailing public sector units and what is holding back investments in Kerala. As you know, manufacturing is an extremely big job creator, a segment of the economy that many states are very focused on. If you see Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, lakhs and crores of investments in manufacturing are going to these states. And HMT in Kerala is certainly one of the units that has tremendous potential to participate in this manufacturing revolution," Chandrasekhar said.
He said HMT Kalamassery can be transformed into a hub for investments and manufacturing technologies.
"The problem here is that it has not received too much support either from the state government or the fact that it has been a very uncompetitive PSU for so long. So I spent some time here today talking to the management, talking to the unions about how we can work together to transform HMT Kalamassery into a hub a vibrant hub for investments, a vibrant hub for manufacturing technologies, and a vibrant hub that will create job opportunities for our youth of Kerala," he added.
Emphasising the BJP's developmental agenda, Chandrasekhar said his and the party's mission is Viksit Keralam.
"Our party's mission is to implement a Viksit Keralam so that our young people can work in Kerala without having to leave the state or the country for jobs. And I certainly think HMT Kalamassery is a very, very important part of our strategy for Viksit Kerala."
He also slammed the CPI-M-led government. "What support will the state government give? For ten years, they have not given any support to anybody except for their own comrades and families. So I don't expect any support from them. The support that is required is from the new government, the new state government that will take office in May. And I'm hopeful that the state government will be the BJP-NDA government."
Assembly elections in Kerala are slated to be held in the first half of this year.
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