The Congress's victory in Kerala in the Lok Sabha elections came as a respite for the battered party, despite the drubbing it received from the rest of India. The Congress-backed UDF secured 19 of the 20 seats in the state, contributing significantly to the party's total tally of 52 seats in the Lok Sabha.
However, the Kerala Congress has now found itself in an embarassing position after one of its former MLAs showered praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his style of working. In a Facebook post in Malayalam that has now gone viral, A.P. Abdullakutty, a former MLA from Kannur, called for an analysis of Modi's working style, which led to the BJP's victory run.
Emphasising on the fact that Modi comes from the same state as Mahatma Gandhi, Abdullakutty said that the prime minister has implemented Gandhian values in his style of working. While formulating policies, Gandhi had asked leaders to keep in mind the poor and downtrodden in the country. Modi has abided and lived by this value during his governance days, Abdullakutty said. He substantiated his claims with the examples of Modi's Swachh Bharat Scheme through which toilets were built for more than 9.16 crore families, and the Ujjwala scheme that claimed to have given free LPG connections to six crore families.
Abdullakutty stated that these schemes boosted his public image and made him popular among the masses. "We should also not turn a blind eye to his efforts that brought smart cities and bullet trains to mainstream political agenda," the former MLA added. Before concluding his post, Abdullakutty reminded that the politics of the country is slowly changing and is aligning itself with development. He said that it is time we take a leaf out of other nations where the ruling party and the opposition work together for the larger good of the country, ie., development.
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This is not the first time that Abdullakutty has been in news for praising the prime minister. In 2009, Abdullakutty was expelled from the CPI(M) for praising the Gujarat model of development. Soon he switched to the Congress and was elected as an MLA from Kannur. He was elected again from Kannur on a Congress ticket in 2011. He also represented the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency between 1999-2009, as a CPI(M) leader. Currently, Abdullakutty holds no party positions in the Congress.