Congress leader KC Venugopal, who came under fire from Kerala's ruling CPI(M) over his remark likening welfare pensions to a “bribe”, clarified on Wednesday that he was referring to delayed payments and arrears often cleared ahead of elections.
The CPI(M), which accused him of attacking a vital welfare scheme, has seized on the comment made during a speech as part of the ongoing Nilambur bypoll campaign, framing it as an insult to pension beneficiaries.
Talking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Venugopal clarified that his remarks about the Left government’s welfare pension disbursement were intended to highlight delays and the partial clearing of arrears close to elections. However, the Left party demanded that the AICC general secretary withdraw his statement and apologise to the people of Kerala.
It is "unacceptable" for any political leader to mock welfare benefits given to the needy as "bribes", the CPI(M) said warning that such remarks would test the patience of the people, who would give a befitting reply.
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Sharpening its attack on the Congress leader, the Left party also claimed that Venugopal was worried the timely distribution of pensions and other development initiatives in the state would hurt the UDF’s prospects in the Nilambur bypoll. The Alappuzha MP claimed that his recent remarks were deliberately "twisted" 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 bypoll," he told the media.
Venugopal 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.
He claimed that the amount of ₹1,600 being given by the government was done by combining several other pensions in the name of pension revision. The Congress leader also claimed that there were huge arrears in funds to be given to the various workers' welfare boards in the state. The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) backed Venugopal, accusing the Left party of "twisting" his words out of fear of losing the upcoming bypoll. It also accused the government of paying pension arrears just before polls for political gains.
Rejecting the Congress accusations, the CPI(M) state secretariat, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said, "The Congress general secretary's remarks terming the pensions as a bribe amounted to insulting the around 62 lakh beneficiaries of the welfare scheme." It claimed that the LDF government has in the last nine years set aside ₹72,000 crore only for providing welfare pensions, despite the financial restrictions placed on Kerala by the central government against which the Congress never reacted.
The party said that its government constantly endeavoured to increase the state's revenue, restructure projects and timely distribute the welfare pensions.
It also referred to the situation during the 2011-2016 UDF administration when there were allegedly pension arrears of 18 months when the amount being given was only ₹600. The party claimed that it increased the amount to ₹1,600 and has been paying it continuously without too much delay.
A similar stand was taken earlier in the day by state Finance Minister KN Balagopal who claimed there were no huge arrears in pension disbursement as claimed by Venugopal.
The minister also said that what Venugopal said was "wrong", and he should not try to justify it now. 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 bypoll in Nilambur assembly seat was notified.
"No one expected a bypoll 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.
Backing Venugopal's remarks, KPCC political affairs committee member K C Joseph alleged that the Left government "deliberately" adopted the method of creating pension arrears and paying them just before the elections during last year's Lok Sabha polls.
He said that Balagopal should clarify why pensions of the poor were delayed, but not the salaries of the ministers and government employees.
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