Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has continued his tirade against the Congress alleging that the party had “drastically deviated from its secular legacy.”
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Addressing the media in Malappuram district on April 18 (Thursday), Mr. Vijayan said the Congress was not interested in taking on the BJP ideologically and politically because it had “degenerated itself into a B-team of the BJP.”
“The flow of Congress leaders to the BJP continues without an end in sight. It’s no longer news. Children of former Congress Chief Ministers are now with the BJP. One-fourth of the BJP candidates in Kerala are former Congress leaders,” said Mr. Vijayan.
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Rejecting the criticism by Congress leaders that he was not speaking against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister said he “did not need their certificate” for that.
Mr. Vijayan rejected pre-poll survey results as “fabricated and paid surveys” alleging that some groups were working overtime by continuously supplying “half-truths and exaggerations to brainwash people.”
“Surveys have lost their credibility. In the last Assembly elections (in 2021), some candidates who were predicted to lose are currently Ministers in the State Cabinet. The scientific base and methodology of such surveys are all hidden. The Assembly elections dumped the surveys,” he said, adding that “these are like paid news.”
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The Chief Minister reiterated that he was criticising the Congress because it was not genuine in its attack against the RSS and its ideologies. The Congress had stood away from the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he said.
“Why does the Congress manifesto have no mention of the CAA? Why does it ignore the abrogation of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir?” the Chief Minister asked.
He said the Congress had begun to accept the agenda of the RSS.
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‘IUML must save its legacy’
Mr. Vijayan said Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders were trying to justify the Congress because the former had little choice. “The downfall of the Congress has been huge. That party should salvage its secular legacy,” said Mr. Vijayan.
The Chief Minister said the ongoing cyberbullying against LDF’s candidate in Vadakara and former Health Minister K.K. Shailaja was heinous and against the culture of Kerala. “Congress leaders should have opposed it and spoken against it,” he said.
He said there would not be any “undercurrent” against the LDF. “Rather there will be an overcurrent. And the LDF will sweep this elections in Kerala.”