KOCHI: Kicking off his election campaign in the state, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, MP, on Monday attacked the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government on the controversial deep-sea fishing deal signed with a US firm, saying the government cancelled the agreement after it was “caught red-handed” by the Congress.
Beginning his campaign from the fishing community-dominated Vypeen constituency in Ernakulam, Rahul highlighted the government’s now-cancelled fishing deal with US company EMCC International, which the Congress-led opposition had been calling a “bid to sell off the state’s marine wealth, endangering the livelihood of lakhs of fishermen in the state”.
“LDF was forced to cancel the agreement when the deal was exposed. It’s like a thief saying he’s innocent when he’s caught red-handed from your house. This is the spirit with which the LDF government is functioning,” Rahul said.The former Congress president, who also addressed a slew of conventions in Ernakulam district, including Tripunithura and Fort Kochi, also criticised the LDF government over its failure to generate jobs in the state.
“If the country cannot give jobs to people, the latter have no future. Kerala has lakhs of youngsters. I want you to ask yourself, do you feel comfortable getting a job in future?” the 51-year-old Gandhi scion asked, standing on his vehicle. “This is the situation across the country,” he said.
Rahul also came down against the PSC job issue in Kerala, where CPM sympathisers were allegedly given jobs out of turn by the government. “I was shocked to find that perfectly eligible people, capable youngsters, were being bypassed only to provide jobs for people from a particular organisation. The responsibility of a government is to give jobs to youngsters, not giving jobs to people from their organisations,” he said.He said jobs could be created only when people are brought together.
“The first thing you have to do if you want to generate jobs is to bring people together. People have to believe that they are fighting for the same thing. You cannot have a divided, angry society, and then expect progress for jobs. You cannot beat people, and kill people and expect progress. It does not happen like that,” he said.
Earlier, Rahul, who’s on a two-day election campaign in the state, held an interactive session with students at St Teresa’s College, Ernakulam. He also addressed various constituencies in Alappuzha on Monday.
On Tuesday, he will address public meetings in Paruthumpara in Kottayam constituency, Manarcaud in Oommen Chandy’s Puthuppally, Ponkunnam in Kanjirappally, Pala, Piravom, Kunathunad, Muvattupuzha, Perumbavoor and Angamaly constituencies.