Nadda slams LDF,UDF, asks people to help Lotus bloom in Kerala

BJP president J P Nadda onThursday hit out at the ruling Left front government and theOpposition Congress-led UDF in Kerala, saying both werecorrupt and lacked vision and said it was time the people ofthe state allow them to ''rest'' and help the Lotusbloom.

The Pinarayi Vijayan government was ''non-performing'' and''the law and order in the state had crumbled'', he said.

Also targeting the UDF, which is going all out to makethe Sabarimala women entry issue a major poll plank in theelections likely to be held in April-May this year, Nadda saidit ''back-stabbed'' the devotees.

He claimed it was the saffronparty workers againstwhom all the cases were registered.

The Congress had recently asked Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan to seek legal remedies to ''heal the wounds'' created insociety due to its alleged hasty decision to implement theapex court verdict of September 2018 allowing women of allagegroups to enter the Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.

The southern state had witnessed protests by right wingand BJP workers against allowing women in the banned 10-50 agegroup being allowed in the temple.

The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were giving''special focus'' and attention to Kerala and over Rs 19,000crore has been kept apart for the state to ease its revenuedeficit, Nadda said addressing a massive rally of partyworkers at the Thekkinkadu maidan here this evening.

''The LDF and UDF are corrupt, both are non-performing,they have no vision and their only aim is to grab power. Timehas come for the people of Kerala to allow them to rest andgive us work,'' he said.

''This government is a government of non-performance....

of inaction.... atrocities against women and Dalits areincreasing,'' he said.

''The leaders and political parties have brought a badname to Kerala.The LDF led by Pinarayi Vijayan and the UDF ledby Oommen Chandyand Ramesh Chennithalahave brought a badname to Kerala.It's full of corruption.Law and order hascrumbled,'' Nadda said.

He also slammed the state's COVID-19 management, sayingthe cases were rising in the state.

''How they have messed up the COVID-19 situation.

There is a narrative here.To adopt Kerala model.What's theKerala Model? More than 50 per cent cases are from Kerala.'' ''Still the health minister claims that the rise in casesare due to population density. What kind of justification isthat? I am sorry to say I have been the health minister andhelped the state during Nipah.'' He said over Rs 2,600 crorewas given for flood relief.

''Nothing has been utilised.We need to remove thisgovernment.We request people to remove the government and helpthe Lotus bloom,'' Nadda said.

Citing the gold smuggling case in which Vijayan's formerprincipal secretary Sivasankar had been arrested and 'Solarsexual exploitation' case in which senior Congress leader andformer CM Oommen Chandy is among the five party leaders named,the BJP leader sarcastically said one Chief Minister has loveand affection towards gold and the other gets energy fromSolar.

''I am sorry to say, it has given a very badname to thestate with the various corruptions and scandals,'' he said.

Nadda also flayed the LDF government for moving aresolution in the state assembly against the CAG for itsadverse remarks in its audit report of the KeralaInfrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), saying thegovernment was attacking constitutional bodies in the state.

He also listed various projects sanctioned by the Centrefor the state including the Mumbai-Kanyakumari economiccorridor for which rs 50,000 crore has been set apart.

During the lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hadtransferred Rs 500 each for three months to 20 crore womenacross the country in their Jan Dhan accounts and 47 lakhpeople were benefited in the state.

Eight crore gas connections were given to women, he said.

The BJP leader said he had come to the same venuein 2016 during the assembly polls and there was a ''sea change''in the enthusiasm of the people now.

Former DGP Jacob Thomas, who recently joined the BJP, waswelcomed by Nadda on the stage by wrapping a shawl around him.

Nadda, who was on a two-day visit to poll-bound Kerala,addressed party office bearers from the 140 assemblyconstituencies earlier in the day.

Senior leader Shobha Surendran, who had been keeping awayfrom party functions over the past 10 months unhappy with thestate leadership, too attendedthe rally.