The outcome of the byelection at Vengara is not as expected by the UDF, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Sunday, Mr. Chandy said the UDF had expected a much better result. “It shows the immense influence and popularity P.K. Kunhalikutty had in the constituency,” Mr. Chandy said.
Regarding the solar commission report and the government action on it, Mr. Chandy said it was not befitting for a democratically-elected government to publish only part of the report and to move ahead with legal action on it.
“I will not have made any criticism if the government had published excerpts from all the chapters of the report. So far, the government has not mentioned anything about the commissions findings about the issues covered in the terms of reference. We have got only the government’s interpretations so far. Until we get the report, we will not be able to ascertain the real facts,” he said.
Mr. Chandy took exception to the comment by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac that he would not lift the tax on petroleum products.
According to Mr. Chandy, the UDF government under him had decided to forego the taxes when the then UPA government increased the price of petroleum products. “Altogether we can give ₹619 crore worth of financial relief to the people,” he said.
To another question, he said the UDF would take stock of the situation and act whenever needed. “We cannot resort to violence or destruction of public property in the name of protest. We even resort to hartals only very rarely,” he said.