Slanging match over CAA in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan targets Rahul Gandhi again, Congress hits back

Slanging match over CAA in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan targets Rahul Gandhi again, Congress hits back

NEW DELHI: The slanging match between the ruling Left Front in Kerala and the Congress continued on Wednesday with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan once again attacking Rahul Gandhi and questioning the Congress leader’s silence over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has been notified by the NDA government.

“Why is Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi silent over CAA? Congress should admit that they are on the same page with Sangh Parivar over CAA,” Vijayan said at an election rally in Palakkad.

“When we pointed out that Rahul Gandhi did not take up the CAA issue during his nationwide yatra and nor in Wayanad, they (Congress) started attacking us,” the chief minister claimed.

Rahul Gandhi has reacted strongly to these attacks questioning why Vijayan was attacking him and not PM Modi. The Congress, meanwhile, has accused Vijayan of trying to please Prime Minister Modi by constantly attacking Rahul. The Congress has also questioned why BJP, which has jailed two non-BJP chief ministers, has allowed CM Vijayan to go scot-free.

“Whenever he speaks, he attacks Rahul Gandhi. None of his party colleagues in the other states do it. So, why is he so opposed to Rahul Gandhi? The only answer to that is — he is trying to please Narendra Modi,” Congress leader K Venugopal alleged.

Leader of opposition in Kerala assembly, V D Satheesan, said that for the past one month, Vijayan had been constantly criticising the Congress and senior leader Rahul Gandhi without uttering a word against Modi.

Satheesan alleged that the CM was humble and careful even while replying to Modi’s allegations against the state government during his recent election rallies in Kerala.

“Both the PM and the CM are now speaking to convince the people that they are not the same. But the people of the state know very well that they are one and the same,” he said. Vijayan is trying to please the BJP by making allegations against Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, Satheesan alleged.

The CPM and the Congress, which are allies under the INDIA bloc, are bitter political rivals in the state. They have been at a war of words accusing each other of helping the BJP in the state. The Left parties have questioned Rahul’s decision to contest from Wayanad instead of fighting the BJP in the Hindi heartland.

Kerala, which votes on April 26 for 20 Lok Sabha seats, is likely to see a keen three-cornered contest in the state. The BJP, led by PM Modi, is going all out to open its account in the state. The saffron party has been a close second in some of the state seats in earlier Lok Sabha elections. This time around it will hope to cross the winning line in some of the seats.

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