Kerala BJP flays Pinarayi Vijayan on charges against PM

Hitting out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for accusing the Prime Minister of 'consistently ignoring' the state, the BJP in Kerala on Sunday said his statement came out of his 'hatred' for Narendra Modi.

The saffron party also asked Vijayan to clarify what 'hostility' the Centre had towards the southern state. Referring to Vijayan's statement that a delegation from the state was denied appointment by the PMO, Veteran BJP leader O Rajagopal said the Chief Minister had gone to New Delhi to attend CPI (M)'s central committee meeting.

The Prime Minister's office was not a place where one can go whenever they felt like going, the lone BJP MLA said in a statement. "Vijayan's statement that Modi has political hostility towards Kerala and has been consistently ignoring the state is baseless. His hatred for Modi is (the reason) behind such a statement," Rajagopal said.

The Chief Minister had yesterday alleged that the Centre was not 'paying heed' to the country's federal structure. "The PM has been ignoring Kerala. The Centre's aversion to Kerala's demands is leading to the collapse of several industries in the state. When we needed to see the PM and submit our requests, we were not allowed to do so," Vijayan had said.

An all-party delegation from Kerala had sought permission to meet the Prime Minister to convey their grievances over the reduced ration allocations to meet the food security needs of the state. They were instead asked to meet the Union minister concerned.

Rajagopal said the PMO had only informed Vijayan that the issue, which he wanted to raise, could be handled by the respective union minister. If the intention of the Chief Minister was to get assurances from the Centre in favour of the state, he would have definitely met the Minister for Food and Public Distribution, he said.

Rajagopal also said when Vijayan was criticising Modi, CPI((M) veteran V S Achuthanandan, who as also in Delhi, met Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and apprised him about the state's concern regarding the proposed coach factory in Kanjikode.