Thiruvananthapuram: Finance minister Thomas Isaac on Monday said the state government will go ahead with its 'one month salary challenge'.
He said majority of the government staff had responded positively to the salary challenge. They are prepared to show the compassion for a cause. "We all will have to come together. The government does not want to follow its predecessor. We don't want to issue a government order in this connection," he said.
The minister said the high court observation was right. "One should not compel anybody to contribute and that is not the intention of the government. The Devaswom Board had overstepped its brief as they didn't given the option to say yes or no. That was not government's position. Moreover, the contribution was not for Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Fund," the finance minister said.When asked about opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala's charge that the finance minister had enforced fund collection without the knowledge of the chief minister, Isaac said; ‘’I don't know why is he resorting to such false allegations. I think he feels slightly out of context in Kerala politics. I think he wants to show that he is a big fighter but he certainly looks miserable trying to do that. The opposition leader is desperately trying to stay relevant."
