MALAPPURAM: Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday came down heavily on the CPM for claiming that Rahul Gandhi was not making strong political statements during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He said the CPM in Kerala acts as the A team of the BJP.
“The Congress is the only party in the country which makes no pacts with the BJP. The CPM had made ties with the BJP in 1989 to support V P Singh as the prime minister. Rahul Gandhi has already raised issues including unemployment and price rise during the yatra. When asked about the arrests of Popular Front of India (PFI) members, he categorically said both majority communalism and minority communalism are dangerous to the nation. What other strong political statements should be made by Rahul Gandhi?” Jairam Ramesh asked.
He also said the CPM in Kerala is rattled by the public response the yatra has received. “The CPM outside Kerala is happy seeing the enthusiastic public response to the yatra, but the state unit is worried. Comrade (Sitaram) Yechury is happy to see the response to the yatra, but Comrade (Pinarayi) Vijayan is not.
The CPM outside Kerala wants the consolidation of secular forces to defeat the BJP. But the CPM in Kerala promotes the BJP to weaken the Congress,” he said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan makes remarks against Congress to escape from the SNC Lavalin case. “The Lavalin case haunts Vijayan. He makes comments against Congress to make (Narendra) Modi happy so that the Lavalin is put in cold storage,” he added.