Kerala at bottom in ease of doing business: Shashi Tharoor

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday criticised the economic policies of the Left government in Kerala by claiming that the state was at the bottom in ease of doing business due to red-tapism and that people were living beyond their means as the administration was in a financial crisis.

Speaking at the state-level conclave of the All India Professionals' Congress, the Thiruvananthapuram MP quoting Niti Aayog data alleged that Kerala was at the bottom among Indian states where ease of doing business was concerned.

''According to Niti Aayog, it takes a minimum of 120 days to set up a business in India, but in Kerala it takes 248 days. How will our state develop with such an attitude? ''It is time we remove red tapism and impart new training to the bureaucracy. We need to think about this,'' he said.

Tharoor also claimed that the southern state was in a financial crisis and despite that the administration keeps announcing various freebies.

''During the COVID-19 pandemic, they were highlighting the number of kits distributed. But it is your grandchildren who would be paying for these kits as the government does not have the funds to refund it.

''We are living beyond our means, that is the reality today,'' he said. The LDF government, however, has been blaming central government policies for ''choking'' the state financially.