Vijayan’s Rahul bashing is unwarranted: Congress

TRIVANDRUM:THE Congress party on Saturday accused Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of unnecessarily targeting Rahul Gandhi, who is on a long march to ‘unite India.’

Speaking to reporters in Thrissur, the principal opposition party’s general secretary KC Venugopal said Vijayan appeared to have taken a “quotation” from his detractors for that.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader was atacking Rahul since he began the foot march from the southern tip of Kanyakumari to the northern Srinagar city this month.

However, Rahul criticises the “divisive” policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) throughout his Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) or unite India march.

Though Rahul is not targeting it even in Kerala, where it is his main adversary, the CPI (M) has been making all sorts of allegations against him ever since he set out on the march.

“The motive behind his criticism of BJY is clear. He wants to keep Modi and (Amit) Shah (the home minister) in good humour,” Venugopal said.

“I know the followers of his party keep Rahul in their hearts and he does not uter a word against their party. He only criticises the BJP’S politics of dividing people on religion”

Vijayan has repeatedly been saying that Rahul’s long march was spending more time in Kerala than the Bjp-ruled Utar Pradesh to help the Hindu nationalist party.

Congress swept 19 of the state’s 20 seats in the national elections and among the winners was Rahul who contested the Wayanad constituency and won with a record margin.

“When Rahul Gandhi contested here, our people thought that he was going to become the Prime Minister,” Vijayan said in Thrissur on Saturday.

“But the people now know that it was a mistake. That trick of the Congress will not work here again.”

He alleged that the Congress-led United Democratic Front lawmakers were neither resisting the BJP at the national level nor raising Kerala issues in the parliament.

The foot march that began on Sept.7 will pass through 12 states walking 20-21 km every day on a vertical path spanning a distance of 3,571 km in about 150 days.

The organisers say they chose the route considering the climatic conditions and the terrain and they were planning a horizontal march ater this next year through different states.

People are joining the “movement” on the way in large numbers and more than 200,000 people have already registered to participate at different points.