Kerala polls: Venugopal accuses CM Vijayan of looting state economy

Congress MP KC Venugopal accused Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan of looting the state's economy and using public funds for political branding. He called the CPIM the 'Corporate Marxist Party' due to extensive campaign hoardings across the state.

Venugopal Accuses CM of 'Looting' Economy

With the Kerala Assembly Elections approaching, Congress MP KC Venugopal on Sunday accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of "looting" the economy of Kerala and using public funds for political branding, drawing a contrast between the LDF and the Congress-led UDF.

Speaking to ANI, Venugopal stated, "As far as UDF is concerned, Congress is concerned, whatever we have to do for poor people is a clear-cut guarantee, is our commitment. You can see the commitment in Karnataka, you can see the commitment in Telangana. We had demonstrated that and only proved that. Not like Pinarayi Vijayan. He completely looted the economy of Kerala, and he is using the fund of Kerala for his campaign."

"We can see the hoardings all over Kerala. The poor Marxist party is now putting up thousands and thousands of hoardings. CPIM has become the Corporate Marxist Party," he added.

Vijayan Hits Back at UDF

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that the United Democratic Front (UDF) is resorting to blatant lies regarding the Social Democratic Party of India's (SDPI) support in Malappuram to divert attention from their pro-corporate and globalist policies. The Kerala CM exuded confidence in the LDF, saying that the general public can easily see through the political propaganda and which party prioritises a pro-people stance.

Election Background

Kerala legislative assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4.

The tenure of the current assembly is set to conclude on May 23.

The tenure of the current assembly is scheduled to end on May 23.

The Congress-led UDF seek to unseat the incumbent Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF and gain control of the 140-member assembly.

The LDF-led government has governed the state for around a decade.

Around 2.7 crore electors are expected to participate in the election.

Following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state electoral roll, the final voter list for Kerala was released on February 21. The revised roll includes 2,69,53,644 voters--1,31,26,048 male voters, 1,38,27,319 female voters, and 227 third-gender voters. Among them, 4,24,518 voters belong to the 18-19 age group. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)