Dalit woman's murder: Venkaiah's poser to Rahul

Thiruvananthapuram, May 7: BJP today took a dig at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, saying he was not to be seen in his party-led UDF ruled Kerala where a Dalit law student was brutally raped and murdered.

"Kerala people are asking why when a student and a Dalit woman was brutally raped and murdered, Rahul is not visiting Kerala", Union Minister and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told an election rally at Chelakara in Thrissur district.

Gandhi had visited Hyderabad and met the mother of research scholar Rohit Vemula, who committed suicide, soon after the incident and attacked the BJP-led NDA government saying 'voices for new ideas were being suppressed in the country'.

The Dalit woman was raped and brutally murdered on April 28 and the incident had its echo in Parliament also with members cutting across party lines condemning the incident.

Attacking the previous Congress-led UPA government over various corruption cases, Naidu said 'most unclean and dirty scams' had happened during the tenure of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister and A K Antony as Defence Minister.

He also took potshots at Congress and the Left-led Fronts in Kerala, saying while in West Bengal they were friends, in Kerala they were rivals. In Bengal it is 'dosti' and in Kerala it is 'kushti', Naidu said.

"Congress and Communists are worried about BJP gaining ground in Kerala. Beware, they may come together and exchange votes," he said.

PTI