AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal on Saturday accused the CPM of targeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to deflect from its own electoral failures and political decline.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Venugopal stated that the Left party’s diatribe against Rahul Gandhi reveals a deep-seated “political inferiority complex” and insecurity. He remarked that blaming Rahul Gandhi for the party’s downward spiral is equivalent to “breaking a mirror because one’s face looks bad”. “Blaming Rahul Gandhi for the CPM’s problems was akin to ‘breaking a mirror because one’s face looks bad,'” he said.
If the CPM continues to target Rahul Gandhi instead of introspecting its dismal performance in Kerala, Venugopal warned that larger electoral defeats await them. “Instead of analysing the reasons for its dismal electoral performance in Kerala, the CPM is trying to target Rahul Gandhi. If it continues on this path, even bigger defeats await the party,” he said.
The Congress leader emphasized that while the Congress party pursues a broad, unified national agenda against the BJP, the CPM is blinded by narrow, regional dynamics. He pointed out that this localized shortsightedness is exactly what caused the collapse of the communist movement in states like West Bengal.
He reminded the Left party that outside Kerala, it secures its parliamentary seats primarily through the strategic electoral backing of Congress and its national coalition allies. He added that it is hypocritical for leaders who won elections riding on Rahul Gandhi’s image to now label him an “ED agent”.
Venugopal’s remarks came a day after senior CPM leaders, including General Secretary M A Baby and former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, criticised Rahul Gandhi. Baby on Saturday slammed Rahul Gandhi over his remarks that he cannot hug former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan due to political disagreements in Kerala. He said that Rahul Gandhi should stop facilitating the ED and the Modi government by demanding the arrest of Pinarayi Vijayan and other Opposition leaders.
“Rahul Gandhi should not become an agent working for the ED. “It is not Rahul’s job to demand that investigative agencies be used against his fellow Opposition leaders,” Baby said.
Senior CPM leader and former Kerala chief minister Vijayan had accused Rahul Gandhi of taking political positions that will help the BJP, instead of strengthening the Opposition alliance, INDIA bloc.