Thiruvananthapuram: Assembly witnessed a heated confrontation on Wednesday over reduction in plan allocation for local self-govt institutions, with ruling side blaming previous LDF govt’s budgeting and planning for financial crisis and opposition staging a walkout after accusing chief minister of misleading the House.Adjournment motion notice was moved by CPI MLA G R Anil, who alleged that reduction in funds had severely affected functioning of local bodies.Replying to the motion, chief minister V D Satheesan said the allegations were directed not against the present budget or UDF govt, but against previous LDF govt’s budget. He said the current budget had reduced allocation for local bodies by Rs 1,533 crore, while the previous LDF govt had failed to release third instalment of Rs 2,150 crore earmarked for local bodies in 2025-26 budget.“The same people who failed to release the Rs 2,150 crore third instalment are now questioning the reduction of Rs 1,533 crore in the current plan allocation,” chief minister said. Rejecting opposition’s contention that the funds could not be released because of elections, Satheesan said third instalment should have been released in Dec and not in March, and remained unpaid until election was announced on March 16.Responding to opposition’s criticism over spillover expenditure, chief minister asked whether the previous govt had earmarked Rs 2,150 crore in its budget for spillover payments. He said the development fund for local bodies constituted 28.5% of total plan fund, resulting in the allocation coming down from Rs 10,189 crore to Rs 8,655.45 crore.Satheesan said had the previous LDF govt continued in office and implemented its budget as proposed, the state would have been forced to reduce the plan outlay by Rs 5,750 crore, or 57%. He said the present govt had transparently informed both public and assembly before reducing the allocation by Rs 1,533 crore.Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan rejected chief minister’s claims, accusing him of misleading assembly. He said the claim that there had been no spillover expenditure during the previous LDF govt’s tenure was baseless. Vijayan said third instalment due to local bodies in March could not be released because of model code of conduct for elections.Vijayan further said LDF govt had spent more than the budgeted allocation during its tenure, with expenditure standing at 94% during 2011-16, 102% during 2016-21 and 135% during 2021-26, with the excess treated as spillover expenditure. Opposition walked out after speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan rejected the adjournment motion.
