Financial adviser to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Gita Gopinath flagged off concerns about the state’s growing expenditure, effectively pointing toward the government’s extensive welfare spending. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintBengaluru: Kerala’s ruling Left parties are debating the merits of having Harvard economist Gita Gopinath as financial adviser to the state’s communist chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan after she made a remark on government spending. Gopinath flagged off concerns about the state’s growing expenditure, effectively pointing toward the government’s extensive welfare spending, while talking to reporters on Saturday. Gopinath’s comments assume importance in the background of an acute financial crisis faced by the Kerala government. “She (Gopinath) is chief minister’s financial adviser, not LDF’s (ruling Left Democratic Front),” Communist Party of India state secretary Kanam Rajendran said on Tuesday.

Source: Mint January 16, 2018 18:22 UTC