A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked why Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has not been questioned or arrested by the Central probe agencies despite multiple corruption charges levelled against him, the senior CPI-M leader said he was not afraid to go to jail, unlike Congress.

Addressing an election rally in Kozhikode, Pinarayi Vijayan said Rahul Gandhi should not create a situation where his political maturity would be questioned.

Taking a dig at the Congress leader, Vijayan advised him, “Don’t make the case that Rahul Gandhi has not changed from his earlier name. Your people say that you have changed after a couple of trips. Your statements will make the People think nothing has changed.”

He asked him (Rahul) not to try to threaten the Left parties with jail, investigation, and Central agencies. “Your grandmother, Indira Gandhi, had put most of the Left leaders, including me, in jail during the emergency. We have experienced and seen enough interrogation and jailing. We are not afraid of jails. So, don’t try to threaten us with investigations and jails, we are not worried,” he added.

Gandhi, while addressing rallies in Kannur and Palakkad on Thursday, asked wondered why the Central agencies have not questioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan despite multiple corruption charges being levelled against him. He asked why the BJP and the Central probe agencies ignored the serious allegations against him.

“I am astonished why the BJP is not targeting CM Vijayan by sending probe agencies after him. Chief Ministers of two states are in jail. But Pinarayi Vijayan has not been questioned by the ED, despite multiple charges being levelled against him. This suggests he is not openly criticising the BJP. He claims to be leading an ideological battle against them,” Rahul said.

Taking a dig at former Congress leader Ashok Chavan, who had quit the party and joined the BJP, Pinarayi Vijayan said, “We people are not like your Ashok Chavan, who cried saying that he would not go to jail.”

Responding to Rahul’s statement ‘I have been criticising the BJP round-the-clock and here Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is criticising me’, CM Vijayan said things that need to be criticised will be criticised.

He continued his criticism against the Congress over its stand on the contentious CAA, saying the grand old party is not worried over the concerns of crores of people who are going to be affected by that law. “Even though Rahul travels all over the country, he is not saying anything against the CAA. I criticised him only in this regard,” Pinarayi Vijayan clarified.

Meanwhile, CPI-M Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat asked Congress leaders in Kerala to advise Rahul Gandhi to withdraw his statement inviting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to arrest Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Speaking at a meet-the-press programme in Kochi on Friday, Brinda Karat said Rahul Gandhi’s statement was shocking. “It is unbecoming of a Congress leader to incite ED action against Pinarayi Vijayan who is leading the LDF Government in Kerala. The statement of Gandhi was condemnable and shameful, especially at a time when Central agencies, including the ED, the Income Tax department, and the CBI, are out targeting Opposition leaders,” she added.

She said the CPI-M had strongly condemned the expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from Parliament, the freezing of accounts of the Congress, and the attempts to term the entire Gandhi family as corrupt.

“The INDIA bloc had also jointly condemned the arrest of Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal. Yet, Rahul Gandhi had no hesitation in inviting the ED to arrest CM Vijayan,” Brinda Karat regretted.