The face off between the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF in Kerala took an ugly turn on Tuesday with a Marxist leader demanding a DNA test of Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi clan and its endorsement by the State’s most powerful person, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The DNA (DeoxyRiboNucleic Acid) test is carried out to the confirm the original paternity of a person. “Rahul Gandhi’s genes are quite different from that of the Nehru-Gandhi family and this has to be confirmed through DNA test,” said P V Anvar MLA, a controversial CPI(M) leader told while addressing a election campaign meeting at Palakkad where the party’s prime ministerial candidate A Vijayaraghavan is engaged in a triangular contest.
“We do have strong doubts about the lineage of Rahul Gandhi. His links with the Nehru-Gandhi family could be established only by subjecting him to a DNA test,” said Anvar in a speech which is being described as derogatory and obscene by even the BJP leadership.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he fully endorsed the views of Anvar as there were doubts about the antecedents of the Gandhi scion. Vijayan had called Rahul Gandhi as Pappu during an election campaign on Sunday. Anvar went one step further and described AICC General secretary K C Venugopal as a low quality Congress leader who advises Rahul Gandho in all important national and international issues.
With the polling day approaching fast, quality of political discourse and narratives between the two major fronts in the State are taking a new low, said many observers. “The fact that BJP is maintaining a quality in their discourses is a redeeming feature,” said Sudheer Damodaran commentator and a veteran campaign specialist based in Thrissur.
Interestingly, both the Congress and the CPI(M) are constituents of the INDI Alliance, an umbrella organization formed by Opposition parties to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindutva forces in this edition of General Election. Television news channels and newspapers miss no chance in publishing video images and pictures of Rahul Gandhi hugging and kissing Communist leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja though Prakash Karat keeps the former at a safe distance.
On Sunday, Vijayan had declared that Rahul Gandhi would not be a prime ministerial candidate, giving enough hints that Vijayaraghavan would the CPI(M) nominee for the top job, according to A Jayashankar, author and political observer. As CPI(M) and Congress leaders wine and dine together once the go put of the State, the duel between the two is being seen as a faced to cover their links as both are fighting it out in the State.
