Overview
- Black flags will be raised at booth centres across Kerala on February 3 as part of the statewide protest announced by CPI(M).
- CPI(M) lists omissions it says the Budget overlooked, including an AIIMS, an Ayurveda AIIMS, inclusion in seven high‑speed rail corridors, a Vizhinjam port package, inland waterways projects, a rubber price stabilisation fund and a proposed railway coach factory.
- The party accuses the Centre of favouring corporate interests by keeping corporate tax unchanged and lowering the alternate minimum tax for large companies.
- Kerala’s ruling Left also warns that cuts to the employment guarantee scheme will disrupt a programme it says has worked effectively in the state and that scheme workers such as ASHAs were ignored.
- Congress leader K C Venugopal says Kerala’s legitimate demands were brushed aside and UDF MPs staged a protest in Parliament, while BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar defends the Budget as beneficial and questions the state’s capacity to implement projects.