Kerala Assembly polls 2026: Pinarayi Vijayan dares Rahul Gandhi to explain how Sabarimala gold theft case accused entered Sonia Gandhi’s residence

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday dared the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to explain how the main accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case gained easy admission to Sonia Gandhi’s high-security residence in Delhi before “stooping” to finger-pointing against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. 

Fielding questions about Mr. Gandhi singing a United Democratic Front (UDF) election parody censuring the LDF for the crime, Mr. Vijayan said: “Mr Gandhi should clarify how he found the theft case accused in his home”. 

Mr. Gandhi had intoned two lines of the ditty at an election convention meeting in Pathanamthitta on Monday, drawing an enthusiastic response from UDF workers. He also noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the temple theft signalled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tacit electoral understanding with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala. Mr. Gandhi had also raised the SNC Lavalin corruption case against Mr. Vijayan and said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case (in the Supreme Court) had reached a dead end because of Mr. Vijayan’s good offices with Mr. Modi. 

Mr. Vijayan sought to counter Mr. Gandhi’s flanking attack against the CPI(M) by raising the cash-for-seat controversy swirling around the Congress’s national leadership, chiefly the offices of Priyanka Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, and all MPs from Kerala, including Kodikunnil Suresh. 

Mr. Vijayan noted that the husband of a Mahila Congress leader from Haryana had claimed, with digital evidence of cash transfers through legal banking channels, that he had channelled significant funds to the offices of Congress leaders for an Assembly ticket for his wife. “Selling party seats for cash reflects the degeneration of the Congress’s apex leadership. The party’s national leadership has not rejected the charge and appeared to be running for cover,” he added. 

Mr. Vijayan said the Congress was raising the spectre of a CPI(M)-BJP alliance to shore up its fast-eroding support among minorities, who, he claimed, were gravitating towards the LDF given its uncompromising stance against communalism. 

Mr. Vijayan said the Congress had sought the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI)’s votes in the 2024 Palakkad Assembly by-election, not the CPI(M). He noted that SDPI workers had openly celebrated the Congress’s victory in the seat. “The CPI(M) has no compact with any party outside the LDF. Nevertheless, some forces chary of BJP’s rise might vote for the LDF, given the alliance’s uncompromising secular stance,” he said. 

Mr. Vijayan also damned the Congress for “pussyfooting” around the BJP’s brand of aggressive Hindutva. He said the ideological line between Congress and the BJP was alarmingly blurred. “Kerala has insulated its citizens from denaturalisation by passing a law allocating them nativity cards to avail of public services and to legally prove domicile. Has any Congress government passed a similar law to protect people, chiefly minorities, from the Centre’s bid to rid them of their citizens’ status?” he asked.