On Tuesday, P V Anwar, the ruling LDF MLA, provoked a controversy when he suggested that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s DNA should be checked. Speaking at an election rally in this constituency, the businessman-turned-MLA claimed the Congressman had devolved into a fourth-class citizen and wasn’t worthy of being addressed by his last name, Gandhi.
Anwar was offended by Gandhi’s recent criticism of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and questioned how someone from the Nehru family could say such things. “I think it’s time to look at Rahul Gandhi’s DNA. There is no dispute in it,” Anwar said at a meeting organised by the LDF local committee at Edathanattukara here.
Despite the fact that the senior Leftist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was the target of many claims, Gandhi has questioned why the politician was not being investigated or taken into custody by federal authorities during his most recent state election campaigns. The Congress leader has been under heavy fire from the Left for his remarks disparaging Vijayan, arguing that he ought to be criticizing Modi and the RSS rather than Vijayan.
In response to Anwar’s offensive comments about Gandhi, Vijayan defended the LDF MLA on Tuesday and said the Congressman was not above criticism. “Rahul Gandhi will hear back on his remarks. “He is not an individual who is impervious to criticism,” Vijayan said to reporters in Kannur.
In a forceful response to the purportedly disparaging comments made against Gandhi, the Congress announced that it had lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, requesting that Anwar be held accountable. Police should file a complaint against the MLA for defaming Rahul Gandhi and the Nehru family, KPCC interim president M M Hassan demanded, calling for the Commission to step in immediately.
Additionally, he claimed that Anwar was being used by the CM to disparage Gandhi. AICC Secretary and senior Congressman K C Venugopal also denounced the derogatory comments made against Gandhi and claimed that the CPI (M) had provided the Nilambur MLA with a “quotation” in order to degrade the Nehru family.