Left vs Congress in Kerala: LDF-backed MLA calls Rahul ‘fourth-grade citizen’, booked
PV Anwar, the independent MLA from Nilambur, also called for the ex-Congress chief's DNA to be “examined.”
In a sign of rising animosity between the Left and Congress in Kerala, an independent MLA supported by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has called Rahul Gandhi a “fourth-grade citizen.”
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PV Anwar, the LDF-backed legislator, was booked for his remarks on Friday, four days after he targeted the former Congress chief.
The case against Anwar was registered on the directions of a magisterial court. The Nilambur MLA has been booked for offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 153A (promoting enmity different groups) and section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of People Act.
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Incidentally, both LDF and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are among the members of the opposition INDIA bloc at the national level in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, but are contesting separately in Kerala, where the latter front is the principal opposition. Gandhi is the sitting Lok Sabha representative from the southern state's Wayanad constituency, and is seeking a second consecutive term from there.
All 20 parliamentary seats in Kerala voted on Friday in the second of the seven-phase national polls.
What did Anwar say?
At an election rally in Palakkad on April 22, Anwar responded after Gandhi questioned why Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was being “exempted” from being interrogated and arrested by central agencies, despite “several allegations” against the Communist Party of India (Marxist) veteran.
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“He (Rahul) has stooped to the level of a fourth-class citizen. Can such a person be born in the Nehru family? I have doubts about it. His DNA should be examined,” the legislator had asked.
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Reacting to the statement, Vijayan had said that the Wayanad MP was not “someone beyond criticism,” while the Congress claimed that the comment was made with the ”tacit approval" of the Chief Minister.
