Fight between Congress and Left escalates ahead of Lok Sabha polls
None of it – the mudslinging, the continuous criticism, the blame games – will seem unusual to the people of Kerala, used to the heightened war of words between the two main political fronts of the state every election season. But to an outsider, watching two political outfits like the Congress and the Left, together in their fight against the rightwing rule of India, fight like cats and dogs in Kerala, is to put it lightly, disconcerting. Especially when the Lok Sabha election is only days away and the INDIA bloc, that both the parties are members of, is the grand opposition meant to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party ruling the country for 10 years. If it all began with the announcement of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s candidature in Wayanad last month, the tussle has now reached its zenith with a row of allegations surrounding the Thrissur Pooram controversy. Rahul Gandhi was in March announced to be the party’s candidate in Wayanad, where he is the incumbent Member of Parliament. The Left parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leading the government in Kerala minced no words in criticising the Congress’s choice. For in Wayanad, the Congress’s fight will be against the Left, an ally in the INDIA bloc, and not the BJP. Annie Raja, a national leader of the Communist Party of India, the Left’s ally in Kerala, is contesting against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad. She asks, “Do Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi think the election is child’s play?” INDIA ‘allies’ Rahul Gandhi, Pinarayi Vijayan are at each other’s throats in KeralaPriyanka, a prominent leader of Congress and Rahul’s sister, too had joined the Congress campaign in Kerala on multiple occasions, and echoed her brother’s words against the Left. The siblings asked whether the Enforcement Directorate was going soft on Pinarayi, leading the latter to respond that he had faced their grandmother Indira Gandhi and wasn’t scared of central agencies. Meanwhile, Congress legislator T Siddique from Wayanad told TNM that the CPI(M) is the B team of the BJP. He repeated the allegation that Pinarayi Vijayan had struck a deal with the BJP to ensure central agencies go soft on his family. The squabble over Wayanad and Pinarayi happened at the same time that two other controversies rose in other constituencies that the Left and the Congress are in close contention for – Thrissur and Vadakara. The Thrissur Pooram, one of the biggest annual temple festivals in Kerala happening at the Vadakkumnathan Temple, took place two days ago, amid the peak of election frenzies. However, a delay in the festivities by several hours, caused a lot of dejection among the thousands of people, flocked there to witness the famous fireworks of the night. The Congress pointed fingers at the Left government for the mismanagement, caused by excessive police restrictions. The government transferred police officials they held responsible for the trouble. Strengthen independent media in an important election year. Subscribe to TNM and power our coverageBut VD Satheesan, the Congress’s Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, blamed the government for the hassle, claiming they were trying to sabotage the festival months ago. VS Sunil Kumar, CPI leader and the Left’s candidate in Thrissur, came live on Facebook to say it is a personal attack on him when they accuse him of causing trouble at Thrissur Pooram, for he too has been a participant of the festivities since 1992 and among the organisers since 2006. In Vadakara, another strong contestant of the Left, CPI(M) leader KK Shailaja also came out alleging personal attack against her by Congress workers, saying that morphed videos of her were spread on family groups. She is fighting Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who denied any such cyber harassment by him and sent a legal notice against Shailaja, demanding an apology for what he said was fake news against him. A row also broke out in Thiruvananthapuram when Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor said that the fight in his constituency was between his party and the BJP and that the Left’s campaign was not significant. Left leaders including the candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Pannyan Raveendran strongly condemned Shashi Tharoor’s statement and spoke of the Congress as forgetting that their main fight was against the BJP.
NONE of it – the mudslinging, the continuous criticism, the blame games – will seem unusual to the people of Kerala, used to the heightened war of words between the two main political fronts of the state every election season.
But to an outsider, watching two political outfits like the Congress and the Left, together in their fight against the rightwing rule of India, fight like cats and dogs in Kerala, is to put it lightly, disconcerting.
Especially when the Lok Sabha election is only days away and the INDIA bloc, which both the parties are members of, is the grand opposition meant to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party ruling the country for 10 years.
If it all began with the announcement of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s candidature in Wayanad last month, the tussle has now reached its zenith with a row of allegations surrounding the Thrissur Pooram controversy.
Rahul Gandhi was in March announced to be the party’s candidate in Wayanad, where he is the incumbent Member of Parliament. The Left parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leading the government in Kerala minced no words in criticising the Congress’s choice. For in Wayanad, the Congress’s fight will be against the Left, an ally in the INDIA bloc, and not the BJP.
Annie Raja, a national leader of the Communist Party of India, the Left’s ally in Kerala, is contesting against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad. She asks, “Do Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi think the election is child’s play?”
Priyanka, a prominent leader of Congress and Rahul’s sister, too had joined the Congress campaign in Kerala on multiple occasions and echoed her brother’s words against the Left.
The siblings asked whether the Enforcement Directorate was going soft on Pinarayi, leading the latter to respond that he had faced their grandmother Indira Gandhi and wasn’t scared of central agencies. Meanwhile, Congress legislator T Siddique from Wayanad told TNM that the CPI(M) is the B team of the BJP. He repeated the allegation that Pinarayi Vijayan had struck a deal with the BJP to ensure central agencies go soft on his family.
The squabble over Wayanad and Pinarayi happened at the same time that two other controversies rose in other constituencies that the Left and the Congress are in close contention for – Thrissur and Vadakara.
The Thrissur Pooram, one of the biggest annual temple festivals in Kerala happening at the Vadakkumnathan Temple, took place two days ago, amid the peak of election frenzies. However, a delay in the festivities by several hours, caused a lot of dejection among the thousands of people, flocked there to witness the famous fireworks of the night.
The Congress pointed fingers at the Left government for the mismanagement, caused by excessive police restrictions. The government transferred police officials they held responsible for the trouble.
Strengthen independent media in an important election year. Subscribe to TNM and power our coverage
But VD Satheesan, the Congress’s Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, blamed the government for the hassle, claiming they were trying to sabotage the festival months ago. VS Sunil Kumar, CPI leader and the Left’s candidate in Thrissur, came live on Facebook to say it was a personal attack on him when they accused him of causing trouble at Thrissur Pooram, for he too has been a participant in the festivities since 1992 and among the organizers since 2006.
In Vadakara, another strong contestant of the Left, CPI(M) leader KK Shailaja also came out alleging a personal attack against her by Congress workers, saying that morphed videos of her were spread on family groups. She is fighting Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who denied any such cyber harassment by him and sent a legal notice against Shailaja, demanding an apology for what he said was fake news against him.
A row also broke out in Thiruvananthapuram when Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor said that the fight in his constituency was between his party and the BJP and that the Left’s campaign was not significant. Left leaders including the candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Pannyan Raveendran strongly condemned Shashi Tharoor’s statement and spoke of the Congress as forgetting that their main fight was against the BJP.
