“This victory is a reward for the governance strategies and the development agenda of the Narendra Modi government,” AP Abdullakutty said. (Source: AP Abdullakutty/Facebook) “This victory is a reward for the governance strategies and the development agenda of the Narendra Modi government,” AP Abdullakutty said. (Source: AP Abdullakutty/Facebook)

A former Congress MLA in Kerala heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi attributing the latter’s victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to the Gandhian values he inculcated through his governance in the previous term.

AP Abdullakutty, a former MLA from Kannur, in a Facebook post on Tuesday said political commentators and leaders must set aside their bias and be impartial in assessing the reasons behind the landmark victory of the BJP in parliamentary elections

“This victory is a reward for the governance strategies and the development agenda of the Narendra Modi government. An interesting factor that makes him so popular is that he inculcated Gandhian values in his governance,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“Gandhi once told his supporters, ‘when you create a policy, think of the face of the poorest person you may have met in life’. Modi has done exactly that. Through the Swacch Bharat scheme, he gave toilets to 9.26 crore families. He gave free LPG connections to six crore families,” the former MLA added.

The state Congress unit has sought a clarification from him over his statement. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said he personally believes that strict action should be taken against him. Speaking to The Indian Express, Abdullakutty, however, said he does not understand why the party has sought an explaination from him.

“The point was not about whether Modi inculcated Gandhian values in his governance. I just pointed out some schemes brought out by the Modi government for the poorest section of the society,” Abdullah said, asking “what was wrong about that post”. Read in Malayalam

This is not the first time that Abdullakutty has praised the prime minister. In 2009, when he was a member of the CPM, he praised the Gujarat model of development only to be expelled by the party. He subsequently joined the Congress and was elected as an MLA from Kannur in a bypoll. In 2011, he was elected again from Kannur on a Congress ticket. He has also represented the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency between 1999-2009 as a CPM leader. Currently, he enjoys no party positions in the Congress and nurses grievances at being ignored by the party leadership.

In his post, Abdullakutty stressed that the opposition and the public must not ignore the fact that Modi brought numerous issues like smart Cities and Bullet Train project on the national political agenda.

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