UDF slams White Paper

UDF chairman and Kerala opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala today dismissed claims made by the LDF government in its White Paper presented in the Assembly and said there had been "better financial management" during the tenures of the UDF government than that of LDF.
He also claimed that though there was financial slowdown, the UDF government was able to collect taxes up to 99 per cent in its last tenure.
"There had been better financial management during the tenures of UDF government than that of LDF. Kerala had suffered the worst financial crisis during 1998-2000 when LDF was in power. Even the state treasury was closed that time," he said at a press meet in the Assembly media room.

Countering the charge of Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac that the lapses in collecting tax was one of the major reasons for the state's financial crisis, he said the previous government was able to collect tax up to 99 per cent in 2012, 98 per cent in 2013 and up to 89 per cent in 2014.
Though the global slowdown, negative growth of the agriculture sector, dip in prices of cash crops and setbacks in the IT, tourism and construction sectors had affected the state's revenue in the last tenure, the UDF government could effectively collect tax and implement several people-friendly projects, Chennithala said.

Former Finance Minister and KC(M) supremo K M Mani also critisised the White Paper, saying it failed to present the real picture of the state's financial position.