A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asking why he had not been investigated or imprisoned by Central probe agencies, the Left leader hit back at Gandhi on Friday (19th April) saying “Unlike Congress leaders, he was not afraid to go to jail.”
Speaking at a public meeting organised by the United Democratic Front in the Kottayam district of Kerala, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday had said, “Everybody knows I fight the BJP 24×7, I disagree with them ideologically. Hundreds of BJP leaders thinking about how to fight Rahul Gandhi. Anyone who fights the BJP pays the price. They took away my membership, and my house, and investigated me for 55 hours.”
Rahul Gandhi alleged that Pinarayi Vijayan attacked him constantly throughout the campaign, and questioned why didn’t Bhartiya Janata Party attacked him.
Lashing out at the Kerala Chief Minister, he said, “Every single day they attacked me but why did the BJP not attack CM Vijayan? Two CMs are in jail but not Pinarayi Vijayan. Another interesting thing is that when I came to Kerala I attacked the BJP, but the CM of Kerala spent 24 hours attacking me. That is what he is doing all the time. For some reason, BJP is not attacking Kerala CM.”
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier launched an investigation into a gold smuggling scam that resulted in the arrest of the Chief Minister’s former principal secretary. The ED is also looking into an illegal payments matter involving Veena Vijayan, CM Vijayan’s daughter.
Addressing an election rally in Kozhikode on Friday, where the CPI(M) has fielded Elamaram Kareem, Vijayan said that Rahul’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi, imprisoned most Left activists, including him, during the Emergency.
“Your grandmother had jailed most of us for more than one-and-a-half years. We have experienced and seen enough interrogation and jailing. We are not afraid of jails. So don’t try to threaten us with investigations and jails, and we are not worried,” CM Vijayan said.
CM Vijayan also took a swipe at Ashok Chavan, who left the Congress to join the BJP, and said that the Left leaders would not “cry like Ashok Chavan and say that we cannot go to jail.”
As reported earlier, Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that the Left parties do not need validation from Congress for their opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s misguided policies. He was reacting to the Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that he is soft on PM Modi possibly to save himself from the investigations of the Central agencies into the various allegations against his government.
“It is ironic that Rahul Gandhi and VD Satheesan, from the same Congress party, question why the Chief Minister didn’t speak out against Modi. The Left doesn’t require validation from Congress for his opposition to PM Modi’s misguided policies and the RSS guiding them. Those who bowed before Golwalkar’s photo, lit lamps, and solicited votes for the RSS should reflect on their own actions,” Vijayan said during a press conference here.
“The Congress lacks any genuine ideological or practical motivation to oppose the BJP, beyond the rhetoric crafted by news-centric PR agencies. Congress’ rivalry with the BJP is primarily confined to electoral politics and power struggles, rather than rooted in substantive ideological differences. Congress has evolved into a party primarily focused on gaining traction within power politics,” he added.
A few days ago, on April 1, Pinarayi slammed Rahul Gandhi for contesting in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate and Communist Party of India (CPI) national leader, Annie Raja. He also called out Rahul Gandhi for not actively campaigning against the BJP. Earlier this month, CPI leader Annie Raja filed her nomination from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
While the CPI and the Congress are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc, the two parties are fierce contenders in Kerala with both parties pitting their strongest candidates against each other.
Raising questions over the INDI Alliance partner Congress party’s decision to field Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad, Vijayan said recently that everyone was questioning Rahul Gandhi’s decision to visit to Kerala rather than confront the BJP-led Centre.
“What is the meaning of this?” Rahul Gandhi is the main leader of the INDI alliance, and he is fighting against the Left Democratic Front, which is also a member of the alliance,” he stated.
“Who is Rahul Gandhi fighting in Kerala? Can we say he is contesting against (BJP candidate) K Surendran in Kerala? Can we say he came to Kerala to fight against the BJP? He is coming here to contest against the LDF,” CM Vijayan added.
“Rahul Gandhi is coming to Kerala and contesting against Annie Raja. She [Annie Raja] is a national leader of the CPI. She was called anti-national during the Manipur violence for strongly calling out the BJP government’s wrongdoing. It was her fact-finding system that brought to light the cruelty of the Christian population. What was the role of Rahul Gandhi in that? Can he say anything on that?” Vijayan said.
(With inputs from ANI)