Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sound the same for their negative remarks towards the state. 

Vijayan on Sunday challenged the PM's allegations about Kerala, highlighting the state as the least corrupt in India, and questioned the basis of Modi's criticisms. “The PM insulted Kerala and Bihar. He is tense about the feeling that the BJP will not gain even a single seat from Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and is trying to cover the state government's achievements using lies," Vijayan said in a press conference.

"The Central government continues to neglect Kerala by creating disparities in tax allocation. With population standardization, the disparity between states on tax share has widened," Vijayan said. The Chief Minister also accused the BJP of spreading false information about Kerala through its advertisements. He demeaned Rahul Gandhi for abandoning his party leadership at a critical juncture, suggesting that Gandhi was not fit to lead the country. “Rahul is not even trying to oppose Modi directly. He fled from North India to contest in Wayanad for the second time,” Vijayan added.

The main goal of the Left Front in the upcoming elections is to defeat the BJP, said the CM, dismissing discussions on the prospective Prime Minister. Referring to the inconsistencies between their manifesto pledges concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the leaders' subsequent rejection of those promises, Vijayan insinuated that Congress has issues with credibility.