Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to clarify if he has a secular mind or a ‘Sangh Parivar’ mind.
He was addressing an election campaign event for K.K. Shailaja, Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, at Purameri near Nadapuram in Kozhikode district on Saturday.
The Chief Minister wondered why Mr. Gandhi did not speak a word about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act [CAA] during his Bharat Jodo Yatra or Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. “Even when you visited Wayanad to submit your nomination papers, you remained silent about it. Are you speaking about it now?,” he asked.
Mr. Vijayan pointed out that both the Communist parties had undoubtedly declared in their election manifestos that they would cancel the CAA. “But, was there any such reference in the Congress manifesto? No. When we criticised the Congress stand in this regard, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan came down heavily on us asking if we hadn’t read the manifesto. He alleged that we are trying to mislead the people,” the Chief Minister said.
There was no mention about the CAA in the page and the paragraph cited by Mr. Satheesan. “How can anyone lie so blatantly? When the lie was exposed, the United Democratic Front convener, who is now holding charge of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, bluntly said they don’t wish to speak about the CAA. According to a newspaper report, the draft of the Congress manifesto had a strong reference to the legislation. But, it was removed by those who were supposed to approve it,” Mr. Vijayan said.
The Chief Minister also accused Mr. Satheesan of spreading lies about the CPI(M) accepting electoral bonds. “The Leader of the Opposition should bag the prize if there is any competition on lying,” he added. The Chief Minister also alleged that there was a “BJP-Congress nexus” to settle the DLF land purchase case involving Robert Vadra, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra’s husband. Mr. Vijayan also attended another campaign event held at Koyilandy in the district.
