Can’t fool Kerala: Mallikarjun Kharge targets Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Idukki: In remarks that are likely to stoke a political controversy, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday sought to make a comparison between people in Kerala and in Gujarat as he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and said the two leaders “can fool people who are illiterate in Gujarat or in other places” but not in the poll-bound state. Addressing a rally here, Kharge also accused PM Modi and the Keralam Chief Minister of wanting to keep power centralized in their hands. He said that leaders of the BJP and the ruling Left Democratic Front should not misguide the people of the state.

“Don’t misguide the people of Keralam. They are very clever, they are educated. Modi ji, Vijay (Pinarayi Vijayan), you both can fool people who are illiterate in Gujarat or in other places, but you can’t fool Keralam people,” he said. Kharge alleged collusion between the BJP and the CPI(M) in the Keralam assembly polls. “Narendra Modi in Delhi and Pinarayi Vijayan in Keralam have a similar style of functioning. They both want to keep power centralized in their own hands. I heard from people that Keralam’s Narendra Modi is Pinarayi Vijayan, and that the BJP and the LDF have secretly plotted to keep the Congress away from power,” he alleged. He said Keralam has always been a beacon of progressive thinking, social justice, and education. (ANI)

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