Kerala finance minister 'wiliest' says Cong MLA

Criticising Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac's CAG report leakage, Congress MLA V D Satheeshan termed Issac as the wiliest minister in the state. Satheeshan also drew parallel to Modi Government in responding to CAG's criticism on off-budget borrowings.

Thiruvananthapuram:Kerala Congress leader and MLA V D Satheeshan on Wednesday slammed Finance Minister Thomas Isaac for leaking the contents of Comptroller Audit General report before it was brought before the Assembly.

Satheeshan termed Issac as the wiliest Minister the state has ever witnessed. The CAG is one among the central agencies investigating cases against the state government, said Satheeshan in the Kerala Assembly while he was presenting the adjournment motion.

In addition, the CAG had also criticized the state for borrowings in 2018 other than those mentioned in the budget. Contrastingly, Issac did not leak the CAG report then, pointed out Satheeshan.

He also alleged that the Finance Minister is misleading the public by saying that the CAG did not submit the exit meeting minutes report to the Finance Ministry.

The report submitted to the Finance Department was signed and not returned by the Finance Secretary.

The CAG did not slam Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), rather the extra-budgetary borrowings were targeted, he said.

Similarly, the Central government also had to face criticism from CAG for such off-budget borrowings and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman also had concealed the reports as Thomas Issac did, he said.