Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 1 (PTI) The Congress-led UDF on Wednesday opposed the Left government's motion in the Legislative Assembly to thank the Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for his policy address at the start of State budget session, saying that it indicated the LDF's pro-Narendra Modi and BJP stand.

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The LDF rejected the allegation, saying the Left front in Kerala and its leader-Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan were strongly opposed to the BJP and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

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Attacking the Left front over the policy address by the Governor on January 23, several UDF MLAs contended that it contained no criticism of the Central government or its policies even though the State government has time and again been blaming the Centre for Kerala's financial problems.

Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan launched a scathing attack on the Left front by accusing it of "lacking the guts or political will" to strongly denounce the Modi government or BJP in the policy document that was read out by Khan.

He alleged that there was not even a single line in the policy document that criticised the Centre's policies, some of which were against the labour class.

"You are not sincere in your efforts to oppose the BJP and Narendra Modi," he contended.

Kuzhalnadan said the Left government should be inspired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin who ensured a resolution was passed by the State Assembly that everything in the policy document was part of the official record after Governor T N Ravi omitted to read out some portions of it.

"That is guts. That is political will. Merely saying you are not afraid of anyone is not enough. You have to show it through action. I fear you (LDF) do not want to oppose Modi, but want to join him," he contended.

Other UDF MLAs like Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and N Shamsudheen also criticised the Left government over the policy address as well as the law and order situation in the State due to rise in drug-related incidents and many officers of the State police being accused in criminal cases.

Several Left MLAs, including P P Chitharanjan, supported the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address and also said the LDF was opposed to the BJP and the Modi government.

The discussion on the motion of thanks remained inconclusive at the end of the day's session and is likely to continue on Thursday.

Khan, in his address, had said that Legislative Assemblies represent the will of the people and the spirit of legislation and the intention of the Legislature has to be protected.

He had also read out from the policy document that the Constitution has provided legislative space for the Union and the States and, therefore, incursions into the legislative domain of the States "do not augur well for a cooperative federal setup."

The Governor had further said recent restrictions on borrowing capacities of the State are hampering their ability to intervene in the health, education and infrastructure sectors.

Khan said while fiscal discipline has to be enforced in right earnest, "there cannot be different yardsticks for State governments, which are not made applicable to the Union government." The 33-day long budget session of the Kerala Assembly that commenced with the Governor's policy address on January 23 is scheduled to conclude on March 30. Finance Minister K N Balagopal would present the LDF government's budget for the next financial year on February 3. The legislature would debate on the budget for three days from February 6 to 8. PTI

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)