Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 12 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has realised he is losing ground on account of various reasons and "hence he is losing his bearings", said the Congress on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the reality is now dawning on Vijayan that he is fast losing ground and that is whuy he is attacking both the Opposition and the media.
"Now, not a day passes by without Vijayan taking on the media and the Opposition. He has lost his bearings because the media is unravelling the truth in a few of the corrupt deals involving a lady (Swapna Suresh) who has been caught in the gold smuggling case. Now what we hear is she got Rs 1 crore as commission in a housing project under state run Life Mission project. Vijayan is going berserk whenever these issues are asked," said Chennithala.
"Vijayan has to come clean on this and whenever he is asked on this project, he is beating around the bush and is taking on the media and the cyber army of the CPI-M is behind this ... even his own Press Secretary is behind this cyber shaming of the media, who are only doing their job," added Chennithala.
Chennithala pointed out that Vijayan's predecessor Oommen Chandy often used to meet the media during his tenure.
"He was asked numerous questions on various issues and never even once had he lost his cool. Never had he attacked the media, like what Vijayan does. Modi in India, Trump in US and Vijayan here are all of the same flock, as they are unable to stand with questions," said Chennithala.
He said that he has now written to Vijayan to give him a copy of all the papers signed by the Kerala government in housing project funded by a UAE based organisation Red Crescent, where Swapna Suresh has gone on record that she received Rs 1 crore as commission.
Chennithala also requested Vijayan to come for an open debate on the mitigation protocols that he had suggested when Covid-19 outbreak began a few months back.
"Vijayan, has time and again heckled me on the mitigation method that I had raised. Today Covid activities in the state have been relegated to just his routine press meet, where he is given a release prepared by a PR agency and he reads out. It was hilarious to hear him say that all people cannot be tested. Without testing how can anyone know what the situation is. He also pointed out that kits are in short supply and hence cannot test all. This is baseless as today in our country, there is no shortage of testing kits," added Vijayan.