If There Is 40% Commission in Karnataka, its 80% in Kerala: Congress

After its win in Karnataka where it had blamed the outgoing BJP administration there of being a "40 per cent commission" government, the Congress on Monday took a dig at the ruling LDF in Kerala by terming it as an "80 per cent commission" regime.

Senior Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala contended that a second term in power has boosted the "arrogance" of the ruling Left and the Chief Minister of Kerala. He also accused the LDF government of being "submerged" in corruption. "If it was 40 per cent commission in Karnataka, here (in Kerala) they are taking 80 per cent commission," Chennithala said at a press conference held here in connection with the alleged Artificial Intelligence (AI) camera scam.

A similar allegation was made by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan a couple of days ago while reacting to Congress leading during counting of votes polled in the Karnataka elections.

Satheesan had said the Congress campaign in Karnataka highlighted the 40 per cent commission that the ruling government there was allegedly taking. "Here in Kerala, it is 46 per cent or 65 per cent. We will highlight that here," he had said referring to the AI-camera and other projects. The Motor Vehicle Department has installed 726 AI-enabled cameras to keep track of the violations of traffic rules across the state as part of the 'Safe Kerala' project.

The Congress has been raising corruption charges against the implementation of the 'Safe Kerala' project, which aims to reduce road accidents and traffic violations in the state, since its inauguration in April. On Monday, during the press conference, Chennithala said the party will not allow the Left government to allegedly loot the people to fill the pockets of the relatives of those in power under the guise of the 'Safe Kerala' project. There are allegations that a relative of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is connected to one of the private companies which carried out the work of installing the AI cameras.

Chennithala claimed that the imposition of fines under the project has not been implemented yet fearing the consequent huge public outcry. He said the Congress would be laying siege to the state secretariat on May 20, which marks the LDF government's second anniversary upon retaining power in the state, over various issues including the alleged corruption in the AI camera project.