LS polls: Rahul vs Pinarayi in Kerala as campaign heats up in state

Kannur/Malappuram/Palakkad: With only one week remaining before the state's Lok Sabha election, the UDF and the Left Front stepped up their campaigns, pitting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against Congressman Rahul Gandhi.

The chief minister responded strongly to Rahul's vicious attack on Pinarayi, accusing him of "not speaking against BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi" and focusing only on him during his campaigns. He said the LDF does not require a certificate from the Congress to oppose the RSS and Modi's anti-people policies.

According to Pinarayi, the BJP is carrying out the RSS programme through the CAA, and the national Congress has done little to thwart the RSS plan. Rahul, he added, ought to clarify if the Kerala unit of the Congress was instructed by the national leadership to stay away from anti-CAA protests, the New Indian Express reported.

Speaking at UDF's campaign events in Kannur and Palakkad, Rahul questioned why the central agencies haven't yet investigated Pinarayi. “Two chief minister’s in this country are already in jail for standing against the BJP government. If Pinarayi is against the BJP, I wonder why he has not faced any legal consequences yet. Why didn’t he go to jail? The CM is attacking me 24 hours a day. His approach is very surprising,” said Rahul.

“I find it interesting that your chief minister is not being attacked in any way by the BJP. Nobody has taken away his house, nobody has taken away his membership to the Vidhan Sabha and he has not been called for interrogation (by the central agencies) for even one minute. So it’s a bit surprising that if he (Pinarayi) is fighting the BJP, then why are they (BJP) so pleased with him?” Rahul wondered.

“If anyone attacks the BJP, the investigation agencies in this country will definitely go after them. Pinarayi says that he is waging an ideological battle against the BJP. Then I’m surprised why ED is not doing anything against Pinarayi in Kerala,” Rahul said.