Pinarayi Vijayan calls Congress, Rahul Gandhi BJP’s B-team

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Congress and Rahul Gandhi of acting as the BJP’s “B-team”, alleging a tacit alliance. He also criticised the UDF over communal politics and defended the government on key issues ahead of Assembly polls

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing them of being the “B-team of the BJP”.

Vijayan made the accusation during an interview with PTI Videos.

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In response to a query regarding Rahul Gandhi’s recent remark that central agencies have arrested or called for questioning other opposition leaders in the country, except the Kerala CM, the Marxist veteran accused the Congress leader and his party of acting as the “B-team” of the BJP.

“Some people don’t learn even if they see or experience something. They are not normal people. They are a rare phenomenon. That is something that happens to those who are normally incapable of grasping things. Rahul Gandhi falls into that category,” the CM alleged.

He said that Rahul had made serious allegations against former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, but the court rejected all those accusations and gave the AAP leader a clean chit.

“It was a heavy blow to the face of the Congress leadership, including Rahul Gandhi. Despite that, it is pathetic that he is repeating the same thing. That is why I said they do not learn from what they have seen and experienced.

“What we can see, if we examine the national-level affairs, is that the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi has become the actual B-team of the BJP. But, I’m not going into its details now,” Vijayan said.

He claimed that a Congress-BJP alliance has been seen in the state many times in the past, but it is not yet clear how things will turn out in the upcoming polls.

He said that both parties oppose the LDF in the same way, and they appear to be getting along very well.

“The Congress and UDF have become a faction that has no hesitation in allying with the BJP,” the CM said.

He also accused the Congress of appeasement politics and seeking the support of groups engaged in majority and minority communalism.

The CPI(M)-led LDF is against any form of communalism and does not seek the support of any group engaged in communal activities, the CM said.

“One should be able to keep any form of communalism at bay. Those who prioritise votes cannot do that, and that is what has happened to the UDF now. The UDF is preparing to compromise with communalism, which is a danger to the nation, no matter what kind it is.

“One must be able to take a strong stand against it. That is the speciality of the stand we take. We will not compromise with any communal force. We are against all forms of communalism,” he said.

On being asked whether mainstream parties are getting influenced by religious organisations, Vijayan said that they are different from communal forces.

He said that religious organisations handle issues of a particular community, and not all of them should be opposed.

“Religious organisations and communalism are two different things. It is communal forces that should be opposed. I don’t see that religious organisations should be opposed,” the CM said.

Regarding the Sabarimala gold loss issue, Vijayan said that the investigation of the matter was being monitored by the Kerala High Court, which has not found fault with the probe, irrespective of the claims to the contrary by the Congress-led UDF.

He said that the government’s stand was also clear that anyone involved in the matter would not be spared, and therefore, the opposition’s allegations against the CPI(M) on the issue would have no impact in the upcoming Assembly polls on April 9.

He contended that the UDF was raising the issue repeatedly only to check whether it could influence voters through it, as they have no other factual ground to attack the government.

The CM said that the legislative session just before the Assembly polls was a good opportunity for the UDF to attack the government and its ministers, but it could not, and therefore, it boycotted several days of the House proceedings.

He also accused the opposition of spreading lies in a manner that surpassed Joseph Goebbels, who was a propagandist for the Nazi Party during Adolf Hitler’s regime in Germany.

Vijayan attacked the Centre too, alleging that it was showing a hostile stand towards Kerala on various issues, including financial aid for Wayanad rehabilitation, and termed BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s reported remarks that the central government has helped the state a lot as “nonsense”.

During the interview, he also said that major changes have taken place in the higher education sector in Kerala to raise the standards of educational institutions in the state to international levels.