THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who came to campaign for the first time in Thiruvananthapuram district, on Tuesday unleashed a scathing attack on the LDF government in the state and BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. She said when the people in the state are the “real gold” as far as the Congress party is concerned, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has his eyes on “foreign gold”.
Priyanka Gandhi was addressing a campaign meeting for the five UDF candidates in the region at Manickode exhibition ground at Venjaramoodu. Slamming both governments, Priyanka said the motive of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the state is no different from that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both are interested in selling the country to corporates.
She said the people in Kerala have three options in this election: CPM’s violence and their corrupt politics, Modi’s politics rooted in communalism and Congress party’s vision for the future. Priyanka touched upon all scams and controversies brought to light by the UDF, ranging from Sprinklr, gold smuggling, illegal sand mining and backdoor appointments to deep-sea fishing deal.“The Congress realises that the real gold in Kerala is the people and their culture. Unfortunately, the LDF government has not realised this. Pinarayi and the LDF government are more interested in selling off deep sea and resources,” Priyanka Gandhi said amid a huge applause.
Priyanka began her speech by apologising to close to 2,000 people who had gathered at the ground for the two-hour delay in arriving for the meeting. She said the youngsters, who form 50 per cent of the Congress candidates, are going to steer the future of Kerala. Highlighting the beauty of the state she had seen from the helicopter and through the road during her daylong campaigning in various districts on Tuesday, Priyanka said not a single leader can take credit for building it, as it is the hard work by the people.
She also mentioned social reformer Sreenarayana Guru’s teachings of equality, brotherhood and peace. At the end of her 40-minute speech, Priyanka introduced the five UDF candidates, B R M Shafeer (Varkala), B S Anoop (Chirayinkeezhu), P S Prasanth (Nedumangad), Anad Jayan (Vamanapuram) and A Sreedharan (Attingal).Later, she addressed corner meetings at Kattakada where she campaigned for K S Sabarinadhan (Aruvikkara), Malayinkeezhu Venugopal (Kattakada) and Ansajitha Russell (Parassala). Priyanka offered prayers at Attukal temple before attending the public reception at St Thomas Church junction at Poonthura.