Kottayam (Kerala) [India], April 18 : Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday campaigned for the BJP candidate Anil Antony, son of senior Congress leader AK Antony, in Kottayam district of Kerala.
Anil Antony is contesting from Pathanamthitta constituency in Kerala.
"I was surprised to hear that AK Antony, senior Congress leader and father of Anil Antony, does not want his son to win. I respect him for his honesty and integrity, but his reaction against his son has surprised me," he said.
During his speech, Rajnath praised AK Antony as an individual but attacked the Congress party for their involvement in corruption, and many of its leaders have been to jail over corruption charges.
He attacked Congress and CPI (M) for the ties between the two parties at the national level despite rivalry in the state, "Rahul Gandhi migrated from Uttar Pradesh to Kerala. He is contesting elections from Wayanad in Kerala. He could not gather courage to contest elections from Amethi. The left parties have also fielded a candidate against him from Wayanad. Congress and Left fight against each other in Kerala but they are friends in Delhi," he said.
Singh mocked Rahul Gandhi, saying BJP has launched Mangalyaan, Chandrayan, and Adityayaan, but Congress has failed to launch its own 'Rahulyaan' for the last 20 years.
"BJP is going to launch Gaganyaan in 5 years but the launch of a young leader of the Congress Party has not happened in the last 20 years. Congress Party's 'Rahulyaan' is neither getting launched nor is it landing anywhere. Rahul has migrated from Uttar Pradesh to Kerala. Last time he had lost the election in Amethi. This time he is not able to muster the courage to contest from Amethi. But this time the people of Wayanad have also made up their minds that they will not make Rahul their Member of Parliament," he said.
All 20 constituencies in Kerala go to the polls on April 26 in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while the Congress party had won 15 seats, its allies, the Indian Union Muslim League, won two seats, the Revolutionary Socialist Party won one, and the Kerala Congress (M) won one seat. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won one seat in Alappuzha.