Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has lashed out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his Facebook post on how the Indian Union Muslim League has weakened the United Democratic Front.
Chennithala said the post is below the standards of a Chief Minister. “It is cheap. This should not be done by a sitting Chief Minister. The people of Kerala will respond to this in the right way,” the senior Congress leader said during a UDF meeting.
Chennithala also accused the CPM of helping BJP grow in Kerala. “This [growth of BJP] began during the Sabarimala controversy. The CPM is trying to poison people’s mind, as they are aware of BJP’s politics. There is an attempt to create communal and sectarian divisions in Kerala,” Chennithala said, adding that the Chief Minister’s Facebook post is proof of this.
The Opposition Leader openly admitted that there were faults on their side in the recently concluded local body elections. However, he added that they would fight the upcoming assembly elections with more determination. “We will check on our shortcomings. A victory in the local body elections does not cleanse this government of all corruption. The media should keep an eye on what is going on,” Chennithala said.
Earlier, on Saturday evening, Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on his official Facebook account, stating that the IUML has weakened the UDF to such a degree that the latter cannot decide its own leader. “Has the League become a centre for commenting on the internal affairs of the Congress and deciding who should lead the Congress,” the post read.
The post further states, “It’s the Congress’ shameless attitude to do anything for a few votes that have led to this degrading situation. The system that is UDF has become irrelevant. Nothing can be expected of an alliance that has abandoned democratic and secular values.”
However, IUML’s PK Kunhalikutty slammed the Chief Minister for his Facebook post. “I saw the Chief Minister’s post. That post has come out in poor taste because not one leader of our party, whether big or small, has uttered a single word on this matter. So where did you get this information from? This post shows that when there are opportunities, different cards are played. Sometimes the majority card, sometimes the minority card. This can create communal problems,” he said during the UDF meeting.
