Amit Shah gives 'Viksit Keralam' call, blasts Pinarayi Vijayan over corruption
The senior BJP leader was in Kerala to inaugurate the BJP state committee office, Mararji Bhavan, in Thiruvananthapuram. The BJP presently has no presence in the state Assembly and has just one MP from Kerala.Shah said successive UDF and LDF governments were only involved in corruption and made Kerala a safe haven for "anti-national forces", like the Popular Front of India (PFI). PFI was declared a banned organisation by the Centre in 2022."'Viksit Bharat' is not possible without the development of strong southern states and the route to 'Viksit Bharat' is only through 'Viksit Keralam'," he said.'LEFT FRONT ONLY WORKS FOR ITS CADRES'Highlighting a key difference between the BJP and the CPI(M), Shah said both were cadre-based parties, but the former worked for development, while the Left party worked for its cadres."For the CPI(M), the development of the cadres comes ahead of the development of the state," he claimed.Training his guns on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Shah termed the 2020 gold smuggling case as the "biggest state government-sponsored scam"."The LDF has been involved in countless scams, including the cooperative bank scam, LIFE Mission scam, AI camera scam, PPE kits scam. But the gold smuggling case ranks as the biggest government-sponsored scam," Shah said.The gold smuggling case shook the Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2020 when customs officials seized gold worth Rs 15 crore at the airport. Among the key accused was M Sivasankar, then-principal secretary to Vijayan.Another key accused, Swapna Suresh, alleged that Vijayan, his wife, and daughter were involved in the smuggling operation.Even though the usual stamp of authority was missing, Shah said the NDA would contest the 2026 Assembly polls in Kerala with the intention of forming a government.- EndsMust Watch
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