Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying he lacks understanding of even the local party worker despite being a national leader.
“Rahul Gandhi is a national leader. But the truth is that he lacks understanding even by a local worker. He is not willing to get things right. He refuses to learn despite being slapped. These are not qualities befitting a political leader. I cannot understand how someone, who all Congress workers see as their national face, can deteriorate to this extent?” Vijayan said.
The attack came a day after Gandhi claimed that the lack of progress in corruption cases against Vijayan was evidence of collusion between Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Vijayan said Gandhi and the Congress were among the first to demand the arrest of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the case related to alleged irregularities in Delhi’s tax policy 2021-22. “Kejriwal was arrested and charged. Now look what happened.”
Vijayan pointed out that the court released Kejriwal. “Was the BJP the only party to receive a slap in the face? Wasn’t it a slap to Rahul Gandhi too? Are they learning from that experience?” he asked.
Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the BJP had a secret agreement in Kerala. “I have 40 cases against me. The Enforcement Directorate has interrogated me for five consecutive days. The BJP is attacking me every second of every day. I want to ask people: Why is the BJP not attacking the Chief Minister of Kerala? Why are the corruption cases against him not going anywhere? This is the best evidence of collusion between the BJP and the LDF,” Gandhi said in a virtual address to an election rally in Kozhikode days before Kerala goes to the polls on April 9.
Gandhi said that both the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party believe that they are not accountable to the people. He said that one in three young Keralans are facing unemployment due to the LDF government’s wrong policies and their “notorious back-end appointments”.
