THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Setting the tone for the parliament election campaign for the Left, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan once again asked the voters of the state to think twice before voting for a Congress candidate. He was inaugurating the LDF’s parliament election convention at Putharikandam ground in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
Wooing Muslim sentiments by echoing the apprehension about losing country’s secular fabric, and terming BJP-RSS as perpetrators and Congress MPs as mere spectators, Pinarayi warned voters that Congress in the state has a president who had said openly that he might shift to the BJP camp.
“The children of two most important Congress leaders have gone to BJP. Nobody knows how many Congressmen had fixed the rate for shifting to BJP camp. There is no guarantee that today’s Congressmen would remain as such. People should take this seriously. The only politicians the country could take into confidence are from the Left. To protect parliamentary democracy, the Left’s presence is needed in Parliament,” he said.
Pinarayi also said that Keralites voted for Congress in the 2019 parliament election because of their innocence.
“The people thought at that time that Rahul Gandhi would become the prime minister. They also wanted Congress to be the single largest party. Although the Left and Congress are against the BJP, people decided to vote for the Congress. Most of the voters were innocent. They did not have any opposition to the LDF. However, the people later realised that the MPs they chose did not stand with the state in times of need. When the Ram temple was consecrated in Ayodhya, Congress leaders and ministers from other states took the stand of BJP. At a Palestine solidarity programme in Kerala, a Congress leader declared solidarity with Israel,” he added.
Questioning the Congress’ credibility, Pinarayi said if the people of the state decide to vote Congress to power, then those Congressmen may head to the BJP camp later, and hand over the rule to them.
The LDF candidate for Thiruvananthapuram Pannian Ravindran, LDF leaders Binoy Viswam, P C Chacko, Kadannappalli Ramachandran, and Antony Raju were present.