Kerala CM attacking Rahul to divert attention from govt failures, assist BJP: Congress

Kochi, Apr 13 (PTI) The opposition Congress in Kerala on Saturday claimed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was attacking the grand old party and Rahul Gandhi to hide his government's administrative failures and to help the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said that for the past more than 30 days, Vijayan has been reading out the same speech attacking the Congress and Gandhi, while avoiding the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Satheesan said that the Congress has only one question to ask the Marxist veteran -- "how will you defeat communalism and fascism at the national level without us?" "The Congress is leading the INDIA bloc. If the Congress is destroyed or weakened, whom will it help? That is our question to Pinarayi Vijayan. So, you (Vijayan) are speaking against Rahul Gandhi and the Congress to help the BJP," he said.

Satheesan, the Congress MLA from Paravur assembly constituency, also alleged that since the CPI(M)-led state government has no achievements to show as the election date nears, it was attacking the grand old party "to hide its administrative failures, mismanagement and corruption".

He claimed that the Left government's Rs 1,500 crore worth KFON project was an example of mismanagement and corruption as it has not been completed even now, seven years after it was launched.

Satheesan said there should be a CBI probe into the KFON project.

The Congress leader also accused Vijayan and the CPI(M) of being afraid to speak out against the BJP as many of their leaders were allegedly involved in various financial scandals, including the gold smuggling through diplomatic bags case and the Karuvannur cooperative bank scam.

"Fear of facing action in these cases is ruling Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPI(M) and the BJP is taking advantage of this to gather Left votes for itself in key Lok Sabha constituencies like Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram," Satheesan alleged.

He contended that no matter what arrangement the BJP and CPI(M) enter into, the Congress and the UDF will not allow the saffron party to get even one seat in Kerala.

Lok Sabha polls will be held in Kerala on April 26 and the results will be declared on June 4. PTI