Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Thiruvananthapuram: Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday exhorted Congress leaders in south Indian state of Kerala to shed their differences and fight the coming assembly polls unitedly even as party leaders in the state asked the party Vice President not to have any truck with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
The demand to keep CPI(M) at bay was made at the KPCC Executive meeting, attended by Rahul and all senior leaders with speakers terming the Left party as "undependable" and accusing it of pursuing politics of violence.
However, Rahul in his speech did not touch on the subject but sent a clear signal to party workers and leaders to end infighting and bickering in the state unit.
CPI-M leaders in West Bengal have been pushing for a tie-up with Congress to oust the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) while the Pradesh Congress leaders are divided over the issue.
Rahul asked the Congress leaders in Kerala to fight the coming assembly polls shedding their differences and said it was "not the time to fight" amongst themselves.
Expressing confidence that the United Democratic Front (UDF) would retain power in the state, which is also going to polls along with West Bengal, Gandhi said there was only one thing -- "CPI(M) cannot defeat Congress, Congress can defeat Congress party".
Meanwhile, sharpening his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused him of being "superficial" and also of undertaking a "poisonous" campaign along with RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) with the main aim of "dividing" Hindus and Muslims during polls.
The Congress Vice-President also alleged that Modi "lacks understanding of things" and that he makes "big media celebrations" around "his ideas".
Addressing the Pradesh Congress Committee Executive meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, he said Modi does not want to go into details and likes to do his politics based on events.
Citing an example, he said Modi had called up Congress president Sonia Gandhi and informed her about the signing of the Naga accord, when none of the Chief Ministers of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam knew about it.
"None of the Chief Ministers -- Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam -- knew about it. His Home Minister does not know and soon we find out that there was no such accord and that the Prime Minister was actually not aware of what is going on."
"Somebody told the Prime Minister that the accord has been signed and PM told the Congress president that an accord has been signed," he said.
"So there is a superficiality in the way he uses the government," Rahul said.
Rahul alleged that the main aim of Modi and RSS was to divide Hindus and Muslims during elections.
"This was clear with their approach, whether it was Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and to some extent in Kerala and West Bengal," he said.
Rahul also said BJP undertakes two type of campaigns, one on development and the other an "underground poisonous campaign".He said Congress was standing up to the challenge, organising itself and defeating BJP.
The best example is the victory of the Grand Alliance in Bihar, he added.
"He(Modi) comes up with ideas and makes big media celebrations around that idea and then after that moves on to to the next idea," he said.
Hitting out at the Centre, Rahul said the NDA government had failed to move the economy and "businessmen are of the feeling that nothing is happening".
