Chandrasekhar said he seldom made personal attacks on political opponents but was "compelled" to do so in Rahul's case. Screengrab: ANI
Rajeev Chandrasekhar hits back at V D Satheesan over Rahul Gandhi's EC remarks
The Kerala BJP chief defended his criticism of Rahul Gandhi and backed the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls amid a political row with the Kerala CM
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 27 (PTI) Keralam BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday hit back at Chief Minister V D Satheesan for condemning his remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi amid the controversy over the chief election commissioner and the SIR of electoral rolls.
The controversy began on Saturday when Chandrasekhar criticised Rahul, alleging that voters had rejected the Congress over "corruption, appeasement politics, developmental stagnation and lack of employment".
He defended the SIR, saying it was intended to protect democracy.
In a post on X, Satheesan condemned some of Chandrasekhar's remarks against Rahul and said personal and abusive comments against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha did not constitute political criticism.
Satheesan also criticised Chandrasekhar's response to reported differences of opinion within the Election Commission of India over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Responding to Satheesan in a post on X on Sunday, Chandrasekhar said he seldom made personal attacks on political opponents but was "compelled" to do so in Rahul's case.
"Rahul's politics since being thrown out by tired, angry voters in 2014 consists solely of and is built on lies, insults and divisiveness," he said.
Chandrasekhar alleged that Rahul's politics "tears down the country and the country's institutions constantly" and accused him of making "slander and abuse" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and spreading misinformation about the government and the BJP.
"I have absolutely no reservation or hesitation in referring to Rahul and his politics as politics built on fraud and corruption and him as a fraud," Chandrasekhar said.
He criticised Rahul over his remarks against the PM and the EC, saying those remarks were what should be condemned.
"Respect in politics has to be earned—through sincere hard work and service for the country. Throughout Rahul's dynasty entitled 'career', he has done neither," he said.
On the SIR, Chandrasekhar said Satheesan's views were not consistent with those of senior Congress leaders and asserted that "fake, dummy and illegal voters must and will be removed from electoral rolls".
He said he would normally have ignored Satheesan's condemnation but responded because he was the CM of his state.
"If you get Rahul to apologise for calling our PM Narendra Modi a 'deshdrohi' and have him apologise to the Election Commission for lying, then I promise to stop referring to Rahul Gandhi as a fraud," Chandrasekhar said.
"But if you don't take up my above offer but persist in using lies, unkept promises, corruption and appeasement as your political strategy, be prepared to be called out as frauds. Every time," he added. PTI