Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday alleged that the BJP and the Congress have a similar stand on communalism, reports PTI. The CM also accused the Congress party of acting against the interests of the southern state.
The Kerala CM, during a campaign in Kottayam district, said that was the reason behind Congress leader and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s recent criticism of a late senior leader of the grand old party.
Vijayan said that even the state leadership of the Congress has a similar stand as it has entered into alliances with the BJP for seats in local bodies.
Last week Aiyar stoked a controversy as he said that former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was “communal” and had described him as the “first BJP PM” of the country. During the launch of his book “Memoirs of a Maverick — The First Fifty Years (1941-1991)”, Aiyar said that he discovered “how communal and how Hindu-oriented” Rao was.
Aiyar, who was part of Rajiv Gandhi’s PMO from 1985-1989, went on to narrate a conversation he had with Rao at a time when he was carrying out ‘Ram-Rahim’ yatra.
“Narasimha Rao told me that he had no objection to my yatra, but he disagreed with my definition of secularism. I said what is wrong with my definition of secularism. He said Mani you don’t seem to understand that this is a Hindu country. I sat up in my chair and said that is exactly what the BJP says,” Aiyar recounted. The first BJP prime minister was not Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the “first BJP PM” was Rao, he said.
Notably, Pinarayi Vijayan-led the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is also a part of the opposition alliance, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). His remarks come a day ahead of the third Opposition meeting in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
CM Vijayan is currently campaigning for the byelection in the Puthuppally assembly constituency which was previously represented by former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy for 53 years till his death in July this year.