Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan trains guns on Congress, says it has BJP-like stand on communalism

Aiyar had last week alleged that former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was “communal” and described him as “the first BJP PM” of the country.

Vijayan said that even the state leadership of the Congress has a similar stand as it has entered into alliances with the BJP for seats in local bodies.

The chief minister made the allegations while speaking at a couple of places in Kottayam as part of the ongoing campaign for the by-election in the Puthuppally Assembly constituency which was previously represented by former chief minister Oommen Chandy for 53 years till his death in July this year.

Also Read: Mani Shankar Aiyar calls ex-PM ‘communal’

‘Congress responsible for destroying rubber industry’

Vijayan also accused the national leadership of the Congress of being responsible for the destruction of the rubber production industry in the state.

He alleged that the ASEAN agreement entered into by the then Congress government at the Centre in 2009 was the reason for the present poor state of the rubber industry.

The veteran CPI(M) leader said that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress had pushed for the agreement and questioned whether they were ready to admit now that they had made a mistake.

“Only once they admit they were wrong can the mistake be rectified. Are they ready to do so? The agreement caused a major loss to our state. So it needs to be cancelled. Is the Congress or its allies ready to demand the Centre to cancel the agreement?” he asked.

He further alleged that the Kerala leadership of the grand old party was also opposed to any development in the state and was only interested in creating difficulties for the people in the hope that it would lead to resentment against the ruling Left government.

“That is why they do not raise a voice against the Central government policies, which are aimed at financially choking the state and stopping all development here,” Vijayan alleged.

However, despite all these hurdles and difficulties, the LDF government in Kerala has been able to implement many developmental projects and take welfare measures for the underprivileged and marginalised, he contended.

“We also celebrated Onam with splendour across the state,” he added.

Puthuppally bypoll: 7 candidates, including 3 independents, to battle it out

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