Thiruvananthapuram: Former Kerala finance minister K.M. Mani on Thursday warned that the state was heading towards bankruptcy and blamed financial mismanagement by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for the situation.

"They (LDF government) have no program and they have no sense of direction. As a result, the government is on the verge of bankruptcy," Mani said.

Speaking to reporters here, Mani charged that the E.K. Nayanar government's financial indiscipline had led the state to run up an overdraft bill of Rs 6.3 billion, adding that on 19 occasions, the government had to draw money from the "ways and means account".

"When we handed over power to the LDF in 1996, we had a balance of Rs 2.5 billion in the current revenue account. Now the government is borrowing for each day's survival. They have already taken a public loan of Rs 5 billion and another Rs 4.5 billion from cooperative banks," Mani said.

He added that the annual plan revenue target for 1999-2000 had fallen short by Rs 3 billion. "One area where they have gone wrong is the pre-degree (Plus Two) issue. By delinking pre-degree courses from colleges, they have caused a burden of Rs 2 billion on the state. College teachers as well as schoolteachers will have to be paid. This is mere duplication," the former finance minister said.

He added that the government's financial indiscipline had created a situation where the next government would find it extremely difficult to run the state. "We require a major overhaul of the political scenario in the state," Mani said.

State Finance Minister T. Sivadasa Menon could not be contacted for his comments as he was out of the city.