Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday alleged that Rahul Gandhi lacked the understanding of even a local party worker despite being a national leader.
Vijayan’s comment came a day after the Lok Sabha leader of the Opposition alleged that the CPM and the BJP had a secret deal in Kerala, where Assembly polls are scheduled on April 9.
Rahul and Vijayan have accused each other’s parties of being the “B-team” of the BJP.
“Rahul Gandhi is a national leader, yet he lacks the basic awareness of even a common local worker of the Congress in Kerala,” Vijayan told reporters in Ernakulam.
“He simply refuses to learn from experience or mistakes. It is difficult to understand how such a downfall is happening to him. Rahul Gandhi and his Congress are the B-team of the BJP in the country and yet its stance is being adopted across India.”
The Congress and the CPM are archrivals in Kerala while being allies at the national level. Senior Congress leaders have over the last few days been alleging a CPM-BJP understanding over 10 Assembly constituencies in Kerala.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had upped the ante on Wednesday, alleging that a vote for the ruling Left Democratic Front was actually a vote for the BJP.
Taking the cue from him, Rahul had said in an online speech from New Delhi that the CPM was acting as the “B-team” of the BJP, provoking Vijayan’s retort.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal defended Rahul. He told a news agency in his hometown Kannur that Vijayan was at the mercy of the BJP this election.
“The chief minister has no moral right to say a single word about Rahul Gandhi. The people of Kerala will give a fitting reply to Vijayan, who has resorted to unleash(ing) this type of low-level attack against Rahul Gandhi,” Venugopal said.
On Thursday, senior Congress leader K. Muraleedharan, contesting from Vattiyoorkavu, said that most BJP workers were concentrating on the high-profile constituencies of state BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and former Union minister V. Muraleedharan. The BJP campaign has been lukewarm in Vattiyoorkavu.
V.D. Satheesan, the leader of the Opposition in Kerala, too has claimed a tacit understanding between the CPM and the BJP in at least 10 constituencies.