LDF re-releases UDF's booklet

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has come under flak from the Congress as the booklet on his government's financial aid schemes is a copy of the previous government's. They claim that only six pages have been added which is supposed to be the schemes of the present government. Mr Vijayan had released a 348-page book, "Government Financial Welfare Schemes" in Kannur on May 18 coinciding with the LDF government's second-anniversary celebrations. 

In a Facebook post, P. T. Chacko, former press secretary to Oommen Chandy who headed the UDF government took a dig at him, saying his predecessor had released the same book. "Oommen Chandy released the same book in 2014, but with a slight difference. Oommen Chandy never wanted to claim the credit on the achievements he had made during his tenure, and so he was not keen to have his picture on the cover," quipped Mr Chacko. He also said that in the latest version of the book, a smiling Pinarayi Vijayan greeting an old woman is the cover picture instead of the symbolic picture the UDF Government had carried. 

Mr Chacko said the Left government had no qualms in reproducing the book and it should have titled "restructured version."  He said carrying the picture is at one's discretion. "Pinarayi has a huge media team which is considered to be the largest team a CM is having in the country," Mr Chacko who had recently retired from PRD told DC. "Public relations department has excellent officers who would have come out with excellent work.