Nadda hits out at Kerala government over PFI violence, graft charges against Vijayan
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J P Nadda on Sunday lashed out at the Left Front government in Kerala, citing violence unleashed by a “fundamentalist outfit” on Friday and corruption charges against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Nadda was referring to the large-scale violence during the bandh called by the Popular Front of India (PFI) after the raids conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“Mann ki Baat” in last eight years and asked party workers to watch the address collectively.
Addressing party workers in Kochi, Nadda, who in on a two-day visit to the state, said the number of people listening to the programme increased manifold and asked party workers to hear the radio address collectively. He listened to the programme in an auditorium in Chengamanad in Ernakulam with a large number of workers before the party programme.
“We witnessed 93rd episode of the event today. We should realise that in every episode started from Oct 2014, he never referred to politics, not even once. It is all about social, cultural, inspiring stories of citizens, cleanliness issues and sports etc,” he said. After listening to “Mann ki Baat”, he later participated in a programme to commemorate jayanthi of Jan Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya. “We are the only party which is ideologically consistent in which we started economic programmes laced with integral humanism,” said Nadda.
Later addressing a meeting in Kottayam, the BJP president came down heavily on the left front government saying its policies were helping fringe elements and pushed the state into a big debt trap.
“The state’s debt almost doubled now. Its policies led to the sorry situation. The heat of gold scam even reached the CM’s office,” he said referring to the alleged gold smuggling through the UAE consulate. Main accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh had alleged that the “CM’s office and his secretary were aware of everything and she was exploited by them.”
The BJP chief is in the state as part of the organisational programmes and the party’s political outreach eyeing the 2024 parliament elections. Earlier the party had identified at last five constituencies in the state and asked the state unit to concentrate maximum on these seats.
“The left’s policies are helping fringe elements. Lawlessness is on the rise and our workers are getting killed in the state. In democracy there is no place for violence. I salute our party activists working in such hostile conditions,” he said.
He said if the people of Kerala want to boost infrastructure and ensure a corruption-free government, they should support the BJP. He also listed various programmes initiated by the union government to lift the economically marginalised people. The new in-charge of the party (prabhari) Prakash Javakekar and state leaders were also present on the occasion.
