Hitting out at the Pinarayi-led LDF government in Kerala, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said that the party's "communist manifesto" was in fact a "corporate manifesto" and that they did not keep their promises.
She was addressing a public rally in Kollam, after arriving from Karunagapally to support Congress candidates Bindu Krishna and PC Vishwanath for the Kollam and Kundara constituencies.
In an apparent dig over the gold smuggling case that unfolded over the last year during which many CPM members were investigated, the AICC general secretary accused the Kerala government of failing to recognize the "real gold of Kerala, the people of Kerala."
"Instead, they were interested in foreign gold and gold smuggling, or in giving fishing contracts to multinational companies," she added, referring to the Kerala government's deep-sea trawling deal with American company EMCC International that caught Fisheries Minister Mercykutty Amma in a row with fishermen earlier this year.
Calling the Kerala government "almost fascist", the Congress leader said, "When you try to raise your voice against it, it tries to suppress it... when you question the frauds of the government, the CM answers that he doesn't know what's going on."
Gandhi’s first political campaign in the state covering Thrissur, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram in two days — Tuesday and Wednesday— also coincides with PM Modi’s Kerala rally.
Lashing out at the recent corruption scandals against the Kerala government, she added that the people were witnessing the "politics of fear, of frauds."
She said, "They have ignored the idea of your rights, your equality and put in the idea of favouritism."
She alleged that many young Congress workers were being killed in the state but instead of taking action against the accused, the government has spent a huge amount to defend them. Also, they lathi-charged students who raised legitimate demands like correct implementation of reservation, she said.
Priyanka said that in this election, residents of Kerala are going to choose between three different types of politics. First, the politics of the CPM, which is the politics of violence, state repression and scam; second, the politics of the BJP, which spreads hate and divisiveness; and third, the politics of the Congress, which is building a future for Kerala.
The leader has been mainly focusing on campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in the past.
Eravipuram, Chathannur and Kundara are her other stops during her campaign in Kollam.
Priyanka is set to take a chopper ride to Kottarakkara where she will campaign for UDF candidates in Pathanapuram, Punalur and Chadayamangalam.
She will then return to Thiruvananthapuram district where her first stop is at Venjaramoodu.
The Congress leader is also set to campaign in Thiruvananthapuram’s Nemom, the lone BJP constituency in Kerala.
(With ENS inputs)