Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President Jagat Prakash Nadda who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday for a two-day visit to Kerala ahead of the state Assembly elections said that Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) are two sides of the same coin.
"Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) are two sides of the same coin. Both have lost their credibility. They don't have any vision for the people of Kerala. The leadership is not able to give the benefit," Nadda said during a press conference here.
Later, addressing a gathering of BJP workers, the BJP chief said that both Congress and CPIM have an "ideological bankruptcy".
"All opposition parties have no ideological backing. They just counter each other's allegations in Vidhan Sabha. Both Congress and CPIM have an ideological bankruptcy. Both these parties will contest together in upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections and will fight against each other in Kerala," he said.
Nadda also slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that he has not spoken a word about the Sabrimala temple issue.
"Congress leadership has not learned any lesson from previous Assembly election. In the Sabarimala temple issue, Congress has backstabbed the people of Kerala. Till now, Rahul Gandhi has not spoken a single word against Sabarimala. It is the height of hypocrisy," he said.
The Supreme Court in its judgment, on September 28, 2018, removed the centuries-old ban on the entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 into the holy shrine. A five-judge bench, headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said banning women's entry into the temple is gender discrimination and violates the rights of Hindu women. The ruling came after a petition argued that the practice violated gender equality.
Speaking on the issue of the ongoing farmer protest, Nadda said, "We're a call away and ready to talk whenever farmers want, our proposal still stands. What happened on January 26, it was our sympathetic attitude that Police didn't take action as they are our people. Centre dealt with it while trying to see no untoward incident takes place."
He also advised popular celebrities not to interfere in the internal matters of India.
His remarks came after international pop star Rihanna on Tuesday extended her support to farmers protesting on the borders of India's capital against the three agriculture laws introduced by the Central government last year and asked why people were not talking about it.
"The country is safe in hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the common man knows that. As far as tweets are concerned, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued a statement on it. It's our internal issue that we are going to resolve," Nadda said.
Kerala Assembly elections are scheduled to take place this year. However, the dates of the polls have not been announced yet.
( With inputs from ANI )
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