Rahul Gandhi is on political tourism in Kerala: Nadda

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, BJP chief J.P. Nadda on Tuesday said the Congress leader is on political tourism in Kerala.

Nadda was speaking after virtually inaugurating newly constructed BJP's Kozhikode district committee office from the party headquarters here.

"Rahul Gandhi's political tourism is also happening here in Kerala. He lost from Amethi, so he ran to Wayanad.

"Changing states doesn't change someone's behavioural patterns, intentions, and the dedication to serve people," Nadda said.

Condemning the recent incident in which a nine-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped, murdered and then cremated by her attackers in South West Delhi earlier this month, Nadda said, "First he politicised the issue then revealed the identity of the victim by sharing picture of parents. When law asked about it, he lied to everyone."

Nadda further said that the revelation made by the victim's mother shows the low level of politics done by people at the top.

Victim's mother reportedly said that no one in the family gave consent to Rahul Gandhi to share their picture on social media. Twitter locked Rahul Gandhi's account for a few days for revealing the identity of victim.

Hitting out on the LDF government in Kerala for Covid mismanagement, Nadda, "There are nearly 20,000 cases in Kerala on an average. At this point of time, 1.08 lakh cases are present in Kerala, contributing to almost 50 per cent of the total burden of Covid cases. This is gross management. It is a model of mismanagement."

"The Central government wants to assist Kerala, but the present government is posing hindrances as far as development is concerned," he said.

He said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has given a special package worth Rs 267.35 crore for strengthening healthcare and for preparing the state for the third wave.

Blaming the Kerala government for not taking a proactive role, Nadda said, "70 per cent tests done were antigen tests! The real mode was RT-PCR, and this is why the burden of Covid has increased to this level. We also know that the proactive role that was to be taken by the government was not taken here in Kerala."

Attacking the state government for the poor law and order situation, Nadda said, "Women are being targeted, children are being targeted and rapes are taking place. Police have been mere spectators."

"Kerala is now being identified by terrorist modules operating in various shapes, gold smuggling, ISIS recruiting centres and thus, the state is having a lot of problems," the BJP chief said.