Pinarayi Vijayan (left) and Binoy Viswam.
Credit: PTI Photos
Thiruvananthapuram: An attempt by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday to pacify coalition partner CPI over the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme has failed.
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam told reporters after the meeting with the Chief Minister that there was no solution for the issue they raised. He also added that the party would inform its future course of action after discussion with the party state and central leadership.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that the four ministers of the CPI might keep off from the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday as a mark of protest. In 2017 the CPI adopted a similar strategy of boycotting the Cabinet demanding resignation of then transport minister Thomas Chandy who faced a land grab case. Subsequently Chandy was asked to quit.
CPI general secretary D Raja said that the party demanded the government to write to the Centre demanding that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on PM SHRI should be frozen. "The Kerala government should have fought it legally to get funds instead of agreeing to implement PM SHRI, which is an attempt to communalise and commercialise the education sector through the National Education Policy," he said.
Even as the CPI(M) tried to convince the CPI that the MoU was signed only to get funds to the tune of around Rs 1,500 crore and that a committee would be formed to check the implementation of any reforms in curriculum, the CPI did not succumb.
The CPI state executive meeting held earlier during the day decided to remain firm on the stand against the left-front government's decision to sign a MoU with the Centre for implementing the PM SHRI scheme.
The CPI is more angry overt the CPI(M), which holds the education portfolio, keeping all other parties in the left-front in the dark about the signing of the PM SHRI MoU. Many CPI(M) ministers were also learnt to be unaware of the move.
Already the youth and student cadres of the CPI launched stirs against the left-front government's decision to implement PM SHRI.