The charged political atmosphere of Puthuppally, which is witnessing an acrimonious election battle between the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front, continues to boil over with the Congress now coming up with a point-by-point rebuttal to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Taking a swipe at the Chief Minister, Congress Working Committee member K. C. Venugopal observed that Mr.Vijayan had indeed been presiding over an ideological shift within the CPI(M) by redesigning its development agenda in favour of the rich and the powerful.
“The projects rolled out by the LDF such as K-fon, K-Rail, AI camera etc are all intended for the bourgeoisie capitalists. On the other hand, it silently yet promptly sidelined several of the social security programmes for the common man,” he said.
He also dismissed the development claims as highlighted by Mr.Vijayan in his speech at Puthuppally.
“All projects named by Mr. Vijayan such as the GAIL pipeline, Kochi – Edamon power highway and the national highway etc, were initiated during the time of the previous UDF government. Some delays might have crept up as we were keen to ensure that development never hampered the lives of ordinary people,” said Mr.Venugopal.
Responding to the Chief Ministr’s allegations of an unholy nexus between the UDF and the BJP, Mr. Venugopal highlighted the absence of a central investigation against Mr.Vijayan despite a barrage of allegations.
“People know how Rahul Gandhi lost his membership in Parliament for speaking against Mr. Modi. It has been a couple of years since the Enforcement Directorate subjected Mr. Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to interrogation without any cases against them. Mr. Vijayan , on the other hand, is yet to be called by the ED even once. The hearing on the Lavalin case has been postponed 34 times,’’ he pointed out.
He also turned down the allegation that the Congress did not effectively utilise the kickback scam allegations, which also involved the Chief Minister’s daughter.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has sought to distance itself from the raging cyber attack against Achu Oommen, younger daughter of the late Oommen Chandy, amidst the election campaign. Talking to the media, Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan and the CPI(M) leader KK. Shailaja asserted that the focal theme of the by-election at Puthupally was development alone .
“The outfit of every person is their private affair,” replied Ms.Shailaja, to a query in this regard by the media.
