Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said that the arrest of his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal held a lesson for the Congress party as the latter had earlier filed the police complaint in the liquor policy case and pushed for action against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Kozhikode, Vijayan claimed that the Congress took positions favouring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when the latter was targeting leaders of non-Congress opposition parties.

He said: “It was the Congress which filed a police complaint in the (liquor policy) case. It paved the way for the entry of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED went on to arrest Manish Sisodia, a minister of the Delhi government, in the case. Congress complained why Kejriwal was not arrested. It publicly asked why the Delhi CM was not being investigated in the case. This went on for quite a while.”

“Now, Congress has changed its stand and I welcome it. The Congress leadership should have had the sincerity to admit that their earlier stand was wrong,” the Kerala CM remarked.

The veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader said that when politicians face tough action from a government in power at the Centre, they should not quit politics. Instead, they should fight against such actions, he said.

“But it’s clear that even tall leaders of the Congress party are not able to withstand such tough actions as was stated publicly by Rahul Gandhi about Ashok Chavan. What is the message it is sending? That if you are threatened, you would quit the party? It is unacceptable. The experience of Kejriwal should teach the Congress the lesson that it must take a stand considering the larger interest of the country during such incidents,” Vijayan said.

At the same time, Vijayan underlined that the INDIA bloc rally on March 31 in Delhi was a grand success and a warning against the anti-people policies of the BJP.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) VD Satheesan responded to the Kerala CM accusing him of saying the same thing over and over again at campaign meetings and press conferences for the last one month.

“He keeps saying the Congress has no sincerity in the protests against CAA. He also keeps criticising Rahul Gandhi. We have always responded to these allegations…he’s only reading and watching the party mouthpieces like Deshabhimani and Kairali. I want to request him to look at other mainstream media portals,” said Satheesan.

“I want to remind him that an ailing Sonia Gandhi was questioned for hours by the ED. Rahul Gandhi was similarly questioned by the ED for days. Former finance minister P Chidambaram was arrested at night by ED officials who jumped over the compound wall of his house. The CM does not know these things. It’s only in Kerala that central agencies are not taking any action. They are friends (with CPM here),” he added.