Congress' Ramachandran slams Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: State Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran on Thursday slammed the governance of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and said the way he is going about will ensure that the CPI-M never again returns to power in Kerala.

Ramachandran reacted soon after Vijayan told the media that the stand of the CPI-M on the Sabarimala issue is the same and there has been no change in it.

"We abided by the Supreme Court directive and if there is a fresh order, which would be opposite to the present one, we will abide by that. We have no other interests," said Vijayan on Thursday, soon after the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Responding to this, Ramachandran said, it was just the other day CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan admitted that their stand on the Sabarimala temple issue was wrong and contradicted what Vijayan is saying.

"This doublespeak is what has sounded the death knell of the CPI-M in West Bengal and Tripura, as they are taking people for a ride. The need of the hour is the CPI-M should make their position clear and not beat around the bush," said Ramachandran.

Vijayan said that the upcoming by-election to the Pala Assembly constituency on September 23 would be one which assesses the performance of the Kerala government and he is quite confident of the outcome.

"We welcome Vijayan's stand on this and he should have the same positive attitude when the results come out and when they lose badly, he should have the guts to put in his papers," said Ramachandran.

Ramachandran was also critical of the manner in which Vijayan took great interest in acting when Kerala NDA convenor Thushar Vellapally was arrested in a cheque bounce case in UAE last week.

"Hundreds of our people are in various jails in the Middle East but only when Vellapally was arrested, it pained him a lot and hence he acted quickly, this is strange and defies logic," said Ramachandran.

He also pointed out that it's very surprising to see Vijayan moving around with a convoy of 22 security vehicles and it happens even in his home town at Pinarayi in Kannur district.

"Crores are being spent on his security and it appears that Vijayan has more security than even Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Through all these acts of Vijayan, it appears that he is on a route to see that the CPI-M disappears into oblivion," said Ramachandran.