‘In quest for big bucks, LDF ignored real pot of gold’

General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has ridiculed the outgoing Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala for its misguided ‘quest’ for gold overseas and even under water, preferring it over the ‘real pot of gold in Kerala,’ which is its people.

She said this during campaign tour of Kollam on Tuesday in apparent reference to the gold smuggling case in which a few CPI(M) leaders are alleged to have been involved. The government’s controversial deep-sea trawling deal with a US-based company was another issue that she was hinting at.

“The LDF government was busy transacting foreign gold and dollar smuggling and in giving fishing contracts to multinational companies,” Vadra said.

Vadra added that the LDF government failed to keep its promises. Her rally in Kollam and neighbouring Karunagappalli were held on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a large meeting in Palakkad in the North.

She lashed out at the five-year rule of the LDS saying it was ‘almost fascist’ in nature and outlook. “When you try to raise your voice against it, it tries to suppress it... when you question the frauds of the government, the Chief Minister answers it by saying that he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Major corruption scandals

Priyanka Vadra is scheduled to travel across Thrissur in the North and Thiruvananthapuram in the South on Wednesday. The first leg of the programme took her to Kollam and Karunagappalli. Interestingly, Prime Minister returns to Kerala on Friday with a massive campaign rally in Thiruvananthapuram.

Referring to the recent corruption scandals against the State government, she said that the public is witness to the ‘politics of fear and of frauds.’ The government seemed to have ignored the idea of safeguarding people’s rights and the principles of equality while promoting favouritism for own benefits.”

Politics of violence

Like Prime Minister Modi who spoke earlier, Priyanka also alleged that many young of her party workers were killed in political violence. But instead of taking action against the accused, the government has spent a huge amount to rope in expensive lawyers to defend them. Students who raised legitimate demands such as lawful implementation of reservation were also tortured by the police, she said.

She said that in the ensuing Assembly elections, voters here will choose between three different brands of politics. One, the politics of the CPI(M) or the politics of violence, state repression and scam; two, politics of the BJP that spreads hate and divisiveness; and three, the politics of the Congress that seeks to build Kerala’s future.

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