Govt opposition clash over Kerala's business ranking

PTI Updated: March 12, 2025 19:23 IST
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Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 12 (PTI) The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday saw heated arguments between the government and the opposition over the state's Ease of Doing Business rank.
    While the Congress-led UDF claimed that the state was not number one, the CPI(M)-led LDF government accused the opposition of being anti-Kerala.
    State Industries Minister P Rajeev said that when other states, like Andhra Pradesh, came first in the rankings in the past, no one questioned it and instead it was applauded.
    He further said that when Kerala's rank was 28 and 15 in the past, the opposition was happy, but when it became number one, the UDF was unhappy and questioned it.
    "Why were you silent when we got 28 and 15 ranks? Why did you not question it then? You were happy then. Now, when Kerala got rank one, you are disappointed.
    "It shows you are against the interests of the state. Due to your political blindness, you are standing as enemies of Kerala. You are anti-Kerala," he alleged in the House during the discussion on demands for grants under various heads in the Budget for the financial year 2025-26.
    He was responding to remarks by UDF MLAs Mathew Kuzhalnadan and Rahul Mamkootathil who questioned the ranking of the state, saying that there were other states ahead of Kerala in the business-centric reforms and that the state was at the top in citizen-centric reforms.
    "Show the document which says Kerala is number one," Mamkootathil said.
    In reply, Rajeev said that the ranking was a combination of both business and citizen-centric reforms and the state's achievement has been acknowledged by many experts in the country, Union Ministers and even the CM of Andhra Pradesh.
    However, as Mamkootathil kept interrupting the minister's reply, Speaker A N Shamseer told the Congress MLA that he cannot expect an answer that he wants.
    "The minister replied. You cannot expect an answer that you want," Shamseer said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)