Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting, in Kerala.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: In a hard-hitting attack against the Congress and the CPI(M), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the 'Yuvraj' of the grand old party could not protect his family's seat in Uttar Pradesh and has come to Kerala to seek votes, and accused the Left party of looting the poor in the state.
There is around Rs one lakh crore deposited in 300 cooperative banks in the state by the poor, working class, women, and those who have returned from the Gulf countries, Modi said and alleged that this money was at "risk due to the corruption of the CPI(M)".
During his public meeting at Kunnamkulam in Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, Modi raked up the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam and said that it was he who initiated a probe by the ED into the scam, and now he was taking legal advice on how the money of the depositors could be returned from the amounts seized by the agencies.
He assured that everything possible will be done to provide assistance to affected people and said that the BJP candidate from Alathur constituency, T N Sarasu, had recently brought to his attention the plight of those suffering as a result of depositing money in the cooperative bank.
This is Modi's sixth visit to the state. He had last come on March 19 to Kerala, which is going to polls on April 26.
Asserting that more was yet to be done for Kerala and the nation's progress, Modi said what was witnessed in the last decade of BJP-led NDA rule was merely a trailer as he solicited the support of the southern state for the alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.
Modi, in his speech, also expressed confidence that Kerala will ensure its voice is heard in Parliament after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The PM also promised that once the NDA government comes back to power for the third time, it will commence survey work to ensure bullet trains in north, east, and south India, on lines of Ahmedabad and Mumbai service.
Without taking the name of Rahul Gandhi, who was also campaigning in his constituency Wayanad in the state, Modi said the Congress' 'Yuvraj' (prince) could not protect his family's seat in Uttar Pradesh—a reference to the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency which was a Congress bastion for years —and came to Kerala to seek votes.
Modi said the Congress leader will seek votes from the people of Kerala but will not raise his voice in their interests, as he was silent on the multi-crore scam in the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank controlled by the state's ruling CPI(M).
Addressing the massive election meetings in Kerala, Modi also hit out at the opposition bloc INDIA, alleging that corrupt individuals were forming alliances to stop him, but he was not intimidated by them.
Modi said the Congress party had labelled members of the Left party as "terrorists."
"However, in the political landscape of Delhi, the Congress and these purported terrorists are seen engaging in collaborative discussions, sharing meals, and crafting election strategies together," he said.
He also criticised the Congress over the support offered by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), for the Lok Sabha elections.
The PM alleged it was a 'back-door agreement' between the Congress and the SDPI, which was the political wing of an organisation banned in India for anti-national activities.
Modi also continued his attack on the ruling Left in the state by raking up the gold smuggling case, corruption allegations against the Kerala CM, and the law and order situation in the southern state.
Raising the issue of the financial woes of Kerala, Modi blamed it on the Left administration's alleged rampant corruption and mismanagement.
"The state's public coffers have been depleted, leaving the government unable to fulfill its obligation to pay salaries to its employees," he alleged.
He asserted that those embroiled in numerous scandals and shielding gold smugglers cannot ensure the state's welfare and urged Kerala to liberate itself from the grip of corrupt administrations.
The prime minister said the Supreme Court has turned down Kerala's request for additional borrowing, attributing the state's financial woes to its own mismanagement.
Kerala stands accountable for its fiscal troubles, with both the LDF and UDF administrations being accused of contributing to the state's decline, he said.
He further claimed that the southern state was in the news lately for the political killings in the state and the offences against women, all of which were the outcome of years of ineffective rule by the Congress and the Left.
Modi also blamed the LDF and UDF for the Varkala and Nedumangad areas of Thiruvananthapuram allegedly becoming dens of drug mafias where narcotics were openly sold.
"Violence and anarchy are common in Kerala. Political murders are carried out here. College campuses have become dens of anti-social movements. Our children are not safe," he alleged in Alathur in the morning.
Both the Left and the Congress were the same, as they "were against development, competed with each other in matters of corruption, and both have been rejected by the people", he said.
"The Left has only one character, be it Tripura, West Bengal, or Kerala; nothing left and nothing right. Meaning that where the Left is in power, there is nothing left, and nothing good happens there. What they did in West Bengal and Tripura, they are doing in Kerala also," he alleged in Alathur.