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CPI(M) slams K C Venugopal remarks about govt's welfare pension
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....PI(M) slams K C Venugopal remarks about govt's welfare pension<BR>PTI News<BR>Dated:- 3-6-2025<BR>PTI<BR>Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 3 (PTI) The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala on Tuesday slammed Congress general secretary K C Venugopal's alleged remark that welfare pension given by the government was an election bribe and demanded that he and his party apologise for it. CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan ....
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....termed the alleged remark by Venugopal as "baseless" and claimed that it was intended to mislead the public. He also said that such baseless allegations would not be discussed during the Nilambur assembly by-poll. The CPI(M) veteran said that the Left government has been paying Rs 1,600 as welfare pension to around 62 lakh beneficiaries since it came to power in 2016. He said that it will be....
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....come a bribe only if it was paid during the polls, but the payment has been a continuous process and now all arrears have been cleared and only one month's dues remain. Govindan further claimed that during the UDF regime before 2016, the beneficiaries were 30 lakh and they were being paid only Rs 600. "There were arrears of 18 months of welfare pension payment when we came to power and we paid....
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.... that," he claimed. Echoing similar sentiment, state Finance Minister K N Balagopal said that the alleged remark by the Congress leader amounts to "underestimating" the public. He also questioned whether Venugopal thought that the people were "idiots" and if it was right on the part of the Congress leader to say that the beneficiaries were accepting a bribe to support the Left government. "H....
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....e and his party should apologise. His statement indicates that Congress does not like that we are giving welfare pensions. They do not want us to do anything which would benefit the people. "Baseless allegations are being made by the Congress and UDF leadership during every election. They have nothing to say about development," he said. State General Education Minister V Sivankutty said Venugo....
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....pal's alleged remark was a challenge to the common people and that such statements were being made as the Congress was afraid of a defeat in the by-poll. Sivankutty claimed that the Congress leader was "mocking" and "belittling" the common people of Kerala during the poll campaign and said that such acts should be stopped by the leaders of the grand old party. Venugopal, during the ongoing by-....
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....poll campaign in Nilambur, had allegedly said that the Left government has turned the welfare pensions into an election bribe. PTI HMP HMP ROH<BR> News - Press release - PIB....