The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Monday (September 8, 2025) hastened to the defence of its “embattled” digital media cell head and State vice-president V.T. Balram.
The KPCC closed ranks a day after Mr. Balram drew oblique criticism from Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State committee member and Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh for allegedly boosting Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “flagging fortunes” by “irresponsibly drawing a humiliating equivalence” between “Beedis and Biharis” via its X handle, INC@Kerala.
Congress in Kerala apologises after ‘Beedis and Bihar’ post backfires
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Mr. Rajesh, without naming Mr. Balram, accused INC@Kerala of ceding a propaganda advantage, “wilfully or otherwise,” to a “hemmed-in” BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in Bihar.
He noted that the “derisive post” had drawn criticism from RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav who recently led the INDIA bloc’s anti-voters’ list fraud campaign alongside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
