CM Pinarayi Vijayan sees BJP conspiracy against cooperative sector

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday accused the BJP of conspiring to destroy the cooperative sector in the state. At the Cabinet briefing here, the Chief Minister refuted the BJP allegation that cooperative banks were safe havens for hoarding black money. “It is a political conspiracy. The BJP leaders are conniving with the Centre to destroy cooperative sector in the wake of demonetisation. If there is violation of tax norms, the department concerned should take action legally. The government will not allow anyone to destroy the sector which provides succour to poor people in the state, he said.

“A top people’s representative from the BJP spoke to me on the issue the other day. I asked him to take a surprise visit along with me to cooperative bank branches of his choice and examine the details of depositors there and find out who’s who," he said. Mr Pinarayi said majority of banking transactions in the state were not through commercial banks, but cooperative banks, especially in the rural areas. Kerala could attain the status of being total banking state because of the wide network of cooperative banks, he said. “Today cooperative banks are not only being choked, but there is a deliberate attempt to destroy the entire sector,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the BJP leaders had been making false and baseless allegations regarding black money in cooperative sector. A prominent BJP leader said yesterday that he wouldn’t mind even if the entire cooperative sector collapsed. "This is a totally irresponsible statement. Cooperative banking sector in the state has grown because of huge participation by people. There is no hurdle in examining the transactions at these banks which are functioning under the Act passed by Kerala Assembly," he said and demanded that the Centre should immediately direct the RBI to withdraw the curbs on cooperative sector to save people from further miseries.