ANR comments on Kamal personal': Sobha Surendran

Kochi: BJP  state general secretary Sobha Surendran has termed the  controversial statement made by party leader A.N.  Radhakrishnan against filmmaker Kamal as  personal.   State president Kummanam Rajasekharan had made the party’s stand clear on the issue, she told reporters here on Thursday amidst the mounting row against Mr Radhakrishnan’s remarks.

She added that everyone should respect the national anthem, though everyone has the right for free expression. “Though the party wants to debate the common people’s  issues, it is the media which is repeatedly raising such controversies,” she said.  

Coming down heavily on the state government, she   alleged that though the Union government had already allocated ration quota for three months, the state government had  failed in distributing it. “The state government is solely responsible for the crisis in the public distribution sector. Instead of distributing the rice to the  beneficiaries, huge quantities of ration rice are being sold in the black market. Even the ration cards could not be provided with the corrected list of APL and  BPL consumers,” she alleged.

Finance minister should resign
The BJP leader blamed  Finance Minister Thomas Isaac for the dip in the state’s tax revenue after demonetisation while other states could increase it.  “The party is formally demanding the resignation of the finance minister who has not taken a single step to promote cashless economy,” she said.