Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday unleashed an attack on Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan questioning his alleged “soft” approach towards Narendra Modi and BJP and the latter’s reciprocation in the same manner.
Rahul spent the entire day in Kerala addressing public meetings in Kannur, Palakkad and Kottayam districts to seek votes for the UDF candidates. The Congress leader sought to make a distinction between the BJP’s approach towards him and the CPM-led LDF chief minister.
Rahul said he disagreed with the BJP ideologically and what they are doing to the country. “I get up in the morning thinking how I am going to fight the BJP today. Similarly, Narendra Modi and hundreds of BJP leaders get up in the morning thinking how are they going to take on Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
“You are aware that anyone who fights the BJP has to pay a price because they are fascists. They took away my Lok Sabha membership, my official residence, I was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate for 55 hours, five days in a row, 12 hours - 13 hours a day. So my question is why is it that the BJP does not attack the chief minister of Kerala?
“They have not taken his assembly membership, his house or interrogated him even for one minute," he said.
The Congress leader said two chief ministers are in jail for opposing the BJP. But there is no such attack on the Kerala chief minister even though there are allegations of corruption here as well.
Rahul said when he came to Kerala or visited any other state, he always attacked the BJP-RSS. “But the Kerala CM is spending 24 hours attacking me. For some reason, he is not attacking the BJP. I leave it to you, think about it,” he said.
Yechury reacts to Rahul’s criticism
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury who is campaigning extensively in Kerala, while reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s accusations, said the chief minister’s criticism need not be seen as a personal attack. “The criticism is against the policies of the Congress viz a viz the BJP government’s various actions. Congress has still not made its stand clear on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has chosen not to make any personal comments about Rahul Gandhi. Instead, he has criticized the Congress party's soft stance towards the policies of the BJP government. However, Rahul Gandhi appears to be trying to turn the criticism into a personal attack to connect with voters.
In every election meeting, the chief minister has questioned the stand taken by the Congress on issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Similarly, he severely criticised the Congress MPs from Kerala for their failure to intervene effectively in Parliament on major issues like the abrogation of Article 370, and the Centre’s decisions to smother Kerala financially.
Pinarayi had also unleashed a scathing attack on the Congress leadership for failing to prevent the mass exodus of party leaders to the BJP.
With just a week left for the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, both the Congress and the CPM have scaled up their attack on each other over the respective stand towards the BJP RSS
