Pension remarks intended to show Kerala govt's delay in payment, huge arrears: Cong's Venugopal

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 4(PTI) Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Wednesday clarified that his remarks about welfare pension disbursement by the Kerala government were aimed at showing how much delayed it was and that arrears were partially cleared usually close to elections.

State Finance Minister K N Balagopal, however, refuted the allegation and said that there were no huge arrears in pension disbursement as claimed by the Congress leader.

The minister also said that what Venugopal said was "wrong" and he should not try to justify it now.

Earlier in the day, Venugopal, the MP from Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency, said that his recent remarks about welfare pension disbursement by the government were "deliberately misinterpreted" by the CPI(M) to "mislead" the people.

"I did not say anything against the beneficiaries who deserve to get the pension on time. I only intended to point out the state government's priority with regard to its payment.

"Last year, two out of seven months arrears were paid just before the Lok Sabha polls. This year, one month's arrears is being paid just before the by-poll," he told reporters.

He alleged that while the government has enough funds to take care of "PR work" for itself and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, it is unable to pay pension arrears on time or increase the honorarium of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers.

Venugopal's clarification came a day after the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala slammed him over his alleged remarks that the welfare pension given by the government was an 'election bribe'.

The Left party had termed his alleged remarks as "baseless" and claimed that it was intended to mislead the public.

It also said that the Left government has been paying Rs 1,600 as welfare pension to around 62 lakh beneficiaries since it came to power in 2016.

Speaking to reporters, Venugopal claimed that the amount of Rs 1,600 being given by the government was done by combining several other pensions in the name of pension revision.

He also claimed that there were huge arrears in funds to be given to the various workers' welfare boards in the state.

The Congress leader said that his intention was to point to the huge arrears of pension and how they are partially cleared close to the polls, but he never meant that the beneficiaries are not eligible for it.

"The beneficiaries are eligible for it. They should get it. They need to get it on time," he added.

Rejecting his claims, Balagopal said that such statements which "insult voters" should not be made, "even for political gains".

The minister said that the recent disbursement of pension arrears was announced much before the by-poll in Nilambur assembly seat was notified.

"No one expected a by-poll to be held due to the then ongoing India-Pakistan conflict and because there was less than a year to go before the state assembly elections in 2026," he added.

The minister said the earlier remarks by Venugopal and his subsequent attempt to justify the same will turn the people against the Congress.

He also said that the Congress and the CPI(M) were part of the INDIA bloc and therefore, leaders of the grand old party ought to speak up against the Centre's policies adversely affecting the state.

"But wrong things should not be said," he added.

Besides Govindan, state ministers K N Balagopal and V Sivankutty too had, on Tuesday, criticised Venugopal over his alleged remarks and they had demanded that he and his party apologise for it.

Venugopal's alleged remarks came during a speech as part of the ongoing by-poll campaign in Nilambur. PTI HMP HMP ROH