UPA Govt Did Nothing for Farmers’ Welfare: K M Mani

KOTTAYAM:
Kerala Congress (M) supremo K M Mani came down heavily on Congress, alleging that the previous UPA government headed by it did nothing for farmers’ welfare in the country and ‘put him in crisis politically.’
Mani, in an article published in “Prathichchaya” the KC(M) mouthpiece, alleged that the anti-farmer policies of the then UPA government had put him in crisis politically. The Kerala Congress (M)-headed by Mani was a key partner of Congress-led UDF in Kerala.
The party was also a minor partner of the UPA when the Congress-led alliance was in power at the Centre.
“It was during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA that the highest number of farmers’s suicide cases were reported in the country,” Mani, who held the Finance portfolio in the previous UDF government headed by Oommen Chandy, alleged.
Mani, who turned 85 today, however, adopted a soft approach towards Kerala’s CPM-led LDF, recalling the struggle it launched along with tall Communist leader A K Gopalan for farmers hit by severe natural calamity in high range in 1974.
Mani’s fresh attack on the Congress came nearly a week after the Congress’s state leadership reportedly made efforts to reach out to its former ally in view of coming bypoll to Chengannur Assembly Constituency in Alappuzha district. KC(M) had ended its 30-year-long alliance with UDF in August 2016, alleging that several several Congress leaders worked against his party, particularly on the issue of the bar bribery scam that shook UDF when Mani was Finance Minister.
The Kerala State Bar Hotel Owners Association had levelled bribery charges against Mani, which finally led to his resignation from Chandy-led government in November 2015. KC(M) had maintained that a “conspiracy” was behind the scam.