Kasaragod : After visiting the houses of slain Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal at Periye in Kasaragod district, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday came down on the ruling CPI(M) and claimed that his party would ensure justice to them.

“The CPI(M) killed those youngsters. If that party thinks that they can remain in power in Kerala through violence, I would like to tell them – No way,” he said while addressing a Congress rally on Kozhikode beach to launch the party’s Lok Sabha campaign in the State.

Mr. Gandhi paid homage to them before opening his speech. Mr. Gandhi said that those who were responsible for the murders of Kripesh and Sarath Lal would be brought to justice. He alleged that the CPI(M) was only capable of unleashing violence, but they were silent on other issues.

“Where was the CPI(M) when Kerala was facing the floods? What did they do to help those over 10,000 families who were affected by the floods? They have no answer if we ask about job creation,” Mr. Gandhi said.

The Congress leader pointed out that thousands of cashew processing units had to be closed down and around three lakh women lost their jobs because of the flawed policies of the State government, he claimed. The rubber growers also had been affected, he said. “ The CPI(M) has a lot to answer to the people of Kerala,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Mr. Gandhi said that if voted to power, his party would introduce a “minimum income line” to help the weaker sections of society and deposit a certain amount of money into the bank accounts of those whose income was below the minimum line.

Mr. Gandhi said that his party was also planning to focus more on health and education and bring down the per capita expenditure of families on these fronts.

Reiterating his promise to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill ensuring 33% of reservation to women in legislatures, the Congress leader also offered to pass a law that would guarantee similar representation of women in all “national institutions”.