‘Healthy competition’ between UDF, LDF to scam people of Kerala: Shah
The Union home minister also targeted the Kerala chief minister, who said on Saturday that the Centre is using investigation agencies for political vendetta.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday took a potshot at the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) in poll-bound Kerala and questioned the multiple scams reported during their governments. “There is a healthy competition between the LDF and the UDF but it is not aimed at taking Kerala forward but intended towards scamming the people of the state. When the UDF is in power, it gets embroiled in the solar scam but the LDF comes in power they are busy doing gold and dollar scam,” Amit Shah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Shah was referring to the July 5 seizure of 30kg smuggled gold from a consignment which was shown as a diplomatic consignment. The Enforcement Directorate after its investigation has said that chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office knew about the scam and his former personal secretary M Sivasankar was involved with Swapna Suresh, the alleged kingpin behind the entire operation.
He made the comments while addressing a rally in Thiruvananthapuram and was also joined by Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, India’s 'Metro Man’ who recently was inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Union home minister also targeted the Kerala chief minister, who said on Saturday that the Centre is using investigation agencies for political vendetta. Shah said that Vijayan should come clear whether the main accused was working from the chief minister’s office or not. He said, “I heard that the Kerala chief minister say that central agencies are working under political pressure. I want to ask him if the main accused in the dollar and gold smuggling cases were working from his office or not? You should tell people if your government paid them ₹3 lakh per month salary or not.”
Shah also aimed his criticism at Congress and claimed that the party lacks direction and still believes in vote-bank politics. “I fail to understand the Congress party. In Bengal, they are in alliance with the Communists and here they are fighting against them. They are in alliance with the Muslim League in Kerala and with the Furfura Sharif in West Bengal but in Maharashtra, they are in alliance with Shiv Sena. Which direction are you headed?” he asked.
He alleged that both parties are not concerned with the country but they are busy doing vote bank politics. He said that the CPI(M) is in cahoots with the SDPI and PFI, both of which are under the scanner of agencies for alleged involvement in spreading hate and terror across several parts of the nation.
The home minister’s visit to the state was aimed at boosting the BJP’s chances at the Kerala assembly elections, which is scheduled to be held on April 6. Kerala will see a three-way contest for its 140-member assembly between the BJP, the UDF and the LDF. The votes will be counted on May 2.
