Ker CM takes a dig at Congress MLAs on quitting spree

: With Congress lawmakers quitting and cosying up to BJP in various states, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took a dig at them, saying the grand old party was giving a helping hand in the saffron party's membership drive.

"In various states, the people's representatives and leaders of the congress are joining the BJP.

Congress has become a party engaged in increasing the membership of the BJP," he said at a function here.

Apparently referring to the mass resignations in Congress in various states, including Karnataka and Goa, Vijayan asked whether a party like that "should remain an orphan without a leader" at a time when the country was going through a very difficult phase.

He said the Congress leadership must be prepared to face the challenges.

Not only during victories, but also during a crisis situation, there is a need to face it and give strong leadership, he said at a function here.

The Chief Minister said the CPI(M) had for long been saying that those in the Congress cannot be trusted and none were sure when they would leave their party.

There is no limit to the money being floated by the BJP, he said adding, Congressmen were like rats meekly following the pied piper.

Meanwhile, KPCC President Mullapally Ramachandran hit out at Vijayan, saying he should find immediate solutions to strengthen CPI(M) at the national and state levels after the drubbing the Left front received in the Lok Sabha polls, instead of interfering in Congress' internal affairs.

"Congress does not want Vijayan's panecea for resurrecting the party," he said.

Vijayan had from the beginning thwarted Rahul Gandhi's efforts to form a front of secular democratic forces against the BJP at the national level, Ramachandran said in a statement.