KOCHI
Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K. Mani on Tuesday accused the Congress of trying to divide the electorate along caste and religious lines and said it had become the Kerala chapter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Inaugurating the byelection convention of Kerala Congress (M), a constituent of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), in Thrikkakara, he said the State government with its welfare measures had presented a model for the country during COVID-19.
Responding to CPI(M) leader and Industries Minister P. Rajeeve’s criticism of the Congress, Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan told the media that no CPI(M) leader was big enough to question the secularism of the Congress. He said Congress was the party that opposed both minority and majority communalism. He accused the CPI(M) and the Sangh Parivar of having the common agenda of ‘India without Congress’.
Mr. Satheesan maintained that while the Congress parliamentarians had demanded extension of Kochi Metro to Kakkanad, the Left government failed to extend the train service in the last six years.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who inaugurated the United Democratic Front’s election convention at Kadavanthra, asked if K-Rail brought in development why was the laying of survey stones for the semi-high speed rail project halted in Thrikkakara during the campaign phase of the byelection.
