THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Kerala's flagship Invest Kerala Global Summit (IKGS)-2025, a two-day event opening at Kochi on Friday, former Minister of State (MoS) and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the need of the hour is that the state has to take a cue from the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi is functioning.
"There is huge scope and potential for Kerala to get investments. For that the state should think above politics... the way PM Modi carries forward by engaging in efficient political governance, " Chandrasekhar added.
"For both the ruling Left and the Congress-led governments, these investment meetings are nothing but a political event and it is impossible for these political fronts to create new job opportunities, and for that, the way is to adopt the way PM Modi is going about, " he said.
He also added that since 2011, successive state governments have organised around 10 similar events.
"But the outcome from these events is just constructions of new malls and apart from that no investments have come nor has there been job creation. This has resulted in our youth seeking greener pastures outside Kerala, " Chandrasekhar said.
"The wrong policies of the successive state governments coupled with the rampant corruption and the violent protests here have destroyed Kerala. Now with the Left government's poor fiscal management, things have gone haywire and this was visible in the apex court itself. This is the same in states like Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka where the Congress party is in power, " said Chandrasekhar, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat and went down after giving the eventual winner and sitting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, a fright.
Incidentally, Leader of Opposition (LoP) V.D. Satheesan, who took part in the inaugural session of IKGS-2025, said he is very proud to declare that the Opposition is taking an initiative for the beginning of a new culture.
"We are giving our full support, in all aspects to the government to make Kerala investment-friendly. I am happy to say that we have not conducted any hartals for the past four years, " Satheesan added.
Hitting out at the Pinarayi Vijayan government, the LoP said, "My request to the Vijayan government is that, when you will be in the Opposition you have to continue the same culture."