Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday targeted the Congress and the CPI(M) for turning Kerala into a “nursery of terrorism” and for impeding its growth despite the development potential the State enjoyed.
Kerala, ‘God’s Own Country,’ was, in recent years, nurturing terrorism when it could have cashed in on its immense tourism potential by setting up related infrastructure facilities. Mr. Modi was addressing a largely attended election rally at the Municipal Stadium grounds here, marking the culmination of a fierce electioneering for the April 10 Lok Sabha elections.
Successive rule by the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF had only stalled development despite the State enjoying a talented human resource pool, which moved out of the State to eke out a decent living, Mr. Modi said. He was campaigning in support of BJP State general secretary K. Surendran, who is pitted in a tri-cornered contest in the Kasaragod constituency. The rival parties that managed to successively wrest power after every election in the State, in fact, had entered into an “unholy nexus,” he alleged. They were waging a friendly electoral contest in the State, only to join hands at the Centre on the pretext of keeping the BJP out of power.