Youth Congress workers wave black flags at Kerala CM in Ernakulam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, (ANI): As a mark of protest against the state budget, the Kerala Youth Congress workers waved black flags at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan twice at Kalamassery area in Ernakulam on Saturday.

Earlier on 9 February, the BJP workers staged a protest against the Left government’s refusal to roll back the tax proposals and social security cess on fuel and liquor, announced in the budget.

The opposition Congress-led UDF MLAs on Thursday also staged protests against the state budget. The MLA constituted a march against the State budget from MLA Hostel to the state Legislative Assembly to attend the budget session in Kerala Assembly in Thiruvananthapuram.

During the protest, the opposition leaders said that they would continue the protest till the government will not changed its decision. To mark the protest opposition MLAs walked to the assembly.

The youth wing of the Congress party also protested against the Kerala budget today in Kochi and clashed with the police personnel who used water cannons to disperse the protestors. The raging Congress workers also burnt the tyre in front of barricades placed to stop the protestors.

The Kerala government is facing a heavy backlash from the general public after they presented the budget for the financial year 2023-24 on Thursday. The government proposed to increase petrol and diesel prices by Rs two per litre in the State.

As per people, the increase in cess on petrol and diesel will lead to a huge price hike. The prices of daily necessities have more than doubled in Kerala. Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal on February 2 presented the budget for the 2022-23 financial year in the legislative assembly. This Budget marks the third by Balagopal after he took over as the state’s Finance Minister.

The Budget allocated Rs 2,000 crore to check inflation. Despite being a consumerist State, Kerala was able to control price hikes and the state witnessed the lowest price rise in the country, Balagopal said. Petrol and diesel prices will be increased by Rs 2 per litre in Kerala, said the finance minister. (ANI)