THRISSUR: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday slammed both Congress and BJP on different matters including flaring up communalism and the central government’s neglect towards the state while inaugurating the LDF convention in Chelakkara as a part of a bye-election campaign here.

Pitching for CPM candidate and ex-MLA U R Pradeep, Chief Minister urged the voters to take the right decision as they had always done, in the upcoming by-polls. In the more than an hour-long speech, Pinarayi took the majority of time to criticise Congress and its alleged failure to resist communalism in the country.

“One leader lit a lamp in front of Golwalkhar’s photo while another leader proudly shared that he sent people to ensure protection for RSS meetings. Meanwhile, LDF has always taken a stand against communalism in every way,” he said, criticising Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and KPCC state chief K. Sudhakaran indirectly.

Pinarayi also pointed out that while communal clashes were rampant outside the state, people in Kerala took a firm stand against it and hence the state managed to end such clashes. In his speech, he also criticised Congress for allegedly paving the way for BJP’s victory in Thrissur.

“Congress lost more than 84,000 votes that its candidate gained in the last Lok Sabha election. Meanwhile, LDf candidates did increase their vote share compared to the previous Lok Sabha election. Isn’t it evident from the vote share who helped BJP to win the seat? People will observe all these results,” he said.

CM also explained the controversy regarding Malabar, which sparked a huge debate in and outside Kerala. “While some gave wrong information regarding the particular region, exact statistics on crime will speak the truth,” he added.

It is the second time Pradeep sought the people’s verdict from Chelakkara, the first election was in 2016. K. Radhakrishnan MP, CPM leaders including district secretary M. M. Varghese, CPI district secretary K. K. Valsaraj among others took part in the convention.