CPM calls for improving ties between party and Govt in Kerala

Kolkata, Jan 4 (UNI) In a bid to resolve the intra government problems, in Kerala, the CPI(M) has decided to improve the coordination between the government and the party while agreeing that the issue of taking ADB loans would be placed in the cabinet once again and the terms and conditions made public.

In a damage control move initiated by party General Secretary Prakash Karat and veteran leader Jyoti Basu, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau also held that Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isac and Urban Development Minister Palolim Kutti had gone beyond the procedural ethics by keeping Chief Minister V S Achutanandan in the dark on the proposed Rs 1067-crore ADB loan for the development of five municipalities, including Thiruvanthapuram.

The issue that topped the agenda list of the PB meeting held here on December one, followed by a three-day Central Committee meeting, was discussed threadbare prompting the party leaders to go for certain measures to bridge the gap between the party and the seven-month-old Left Democratic Front Government.

''ADB loan had been a major controversy. We have discussed it and the framework in which the loan is to be taken...we have given some advices...there are certain procedures to follow and the terms and concitions should be told to the people,'' Mr.Karat said.

Briefing the media at the end of the one-day Polit Bureau meeting and the three-day Central Committee meeting that concluded today, the CPI(M) General Secretary admitted that there was a need to bring the party closer to the government, particularly in the light of the infighting between the two factions led by state committee Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and the chief minister.

''We need to improve the coordination between the government and the state party in Kerala and we have decided on certain steps to be taken to sort out the problems,'' he said.

Party sources said Mr Karat and Mr Basu sided with Mr Achutanandan in the Polit Bureau meeting on the ground that the Chief Minister can never be bypassed in any major policy decision.

Mr Achutanandan met Mr Basu at his residence on the issue after arriving in the city on January one for the Polit Bureau meeting.

As the party had already given a green signal for taking foreign loans, Mr Achutanandan had no obtection on the proposed ADB funding, but his main grievance was that he had been bypassed.

However, Mr Kutti and Mr Isac had reasoned that the preliminary agreement for the ADB loan had been struck during the chief ministership of Mr Oomen Chandy and if the present government delayed over the matter, it would have been scrapped.

While stating that it was no more sacrilege for a party-led government to take foreign loans provided it was within the terms and condition laid down by the organisation, Mr Karat pointed out that there were also certain procedural matters to be followed.

''If the situation so requires, a government can take foreign loans. The West Bengal Government has also taken ADB loans within the terms and condition we have laid down. But there are also some procedures,'' he said.

UNI