No Congress-nominated member joined BJP in Mattathur: VD Satheesan
CM mocked the Congress, saying its workers were “turning BJP overnight”
CM mocked the Congress, saying its workers were “turning BJP overnight”
CM mocked the Congress, saying its workers were “turning BJP overnight”
Pathanamthitta: Opposition Leader VD Satheesan said that no Congress-nominated member had joined the BJP in Thrissur’s Mattathur grama panchayat. Addressing the media here on Sunday, he said the eight members who resigned from the Congress only supported a Congress rebel candidate in the panchayat president election.
“None of the eight members has joined the BJP yet. The Chief Minister wants them to join the BJP because he wishes to increase the saffron party’s strength,” the Congress leader said, criticising the CM.
He made the remarks minutes after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a Facebook post, criticised the Congress over the Mattathur panchayat row.
On Saturday, eight Congress members resigned from the party and formed an alliance with BJP members to retain power in the panchayat. With their support, Congress rebel candidate Tessi Jose Kallarackal won the panchayat president election.
Referring to this, the CM mocked the Congress, saying its workers were “turning BJP overnight,” and alleged that a Congress–BJP nexus was evident in several places across the state.
"The Congress is a party that constantly waits for the right moment to jump — and that jump was seen in Mattathur in Thrissur district. All the members who contested and won as Congress candidates in the panchayat crossed over to the BJP camp and took control of power. Only eight members now remain with the UDF. The BJP took everyone else over, without leaving even one behind — a political scene Kerala is not used to seeing," CM wrote on his Facebook page.
"In 2016, in Arunachal Pradesh, 43 of the 44 Congress MLAs — including the Chief Minister — shifted overnight to the NDA. In Puducherry, where the Congress had no MLA at all, the BJP captured power in 2021 by poaching Congress members. In 2019, the entire Congress Legislative Party in Goa merged with the BJP. What happened in Mattathur is the Kerala version of all this. Congress leaders openly say they sided with the BJP only to prevent the LDF from getting the panchayat president’s post," he added.