Hitting back at Narendra Modi for calling Kerala "a nursery of terrorism", Chief Minister Oommen Chandy reminded the BJP leader that "nobody has forgotten the Gujarat riots."
"It seems Modi is suffering from amnesia. Modi appears to have forgotten that he was in Kerala when he made such a statement. He would do well remember that no one has forgotten the Gujarat riots," he told reporters.
The Congress leader was referring to Modi's comment that Kerala had turned from a tourists paradise to "nursery of terrorism" while addressing a BJP campaign meeting at Kasargode today.
Chandy also rejected Modi's charge that the Congress-led Governments at the Centre as well as in Kerala had been soft towards the Italian marines facing trial for killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast.
"We have made no compromise in the marines' case. We have never held their brief nor had we gone and met them in jail," he said.
Tearing into the BJP's manifesto, he said it reflected the party's "divisive policies" which posed a grim threat to secularism and unity of the country.
The Chief Minister said the UDF would perform "extremely well" in the Lok Sabha elections in the state to be held on April 10.
Recalling that he had dared the LDF to take the elections also as a referendum on his government's performance, he said the opposition had refused to accept his challenge.