Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi | Kerala's main opposition Congress on Sunday dubbed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan a "sadist", "coward", "arrogant" and "psychopath" and accused him of turning the state into a "land of goondas".

Referring to the alleged use of water cannons and tear gas shells against senior Congress leaders in Kerala, including MPs and MLAs, who were protesting outside the DGP's office in Thiruvananthapuram, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal blamed the CM for the same.

Venugopal, in a statement, said that the police action and the assault of Youth Congress (YC) and Kerala Students' Union (KSU) workers show that Vijayan was enjoying the violence.

"The chief minister has a sadistic face. He is responsible for Kerala turning into a goonda raj state," he said.

The AICC general secretary also questioned how the CM's gunman was still accompanying him after being booked for beating up YC-KSU activists.

"What Narendra Modi is doing in Delhi, Vijayan is replicating in Kerala," he alleged.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran, who was hospitalised a day ago due to the effects of the tear gas shells that fell near the stage where he and other party leaders were standing, called Vijayan a "psychopath".

"He (CM) is a psychopath. Only a psychopath can act the way he has. This CM and the government are settling personal scores," the KPCC chief alleged.

Senior Congress leaders in Kerala, including senior MPs and MLAs, suffered from suffocation and some were even hospitalised after police fired tear gas shells.

The KPCC chief said that a couple of shells fell under the vehicle on top of which the stage was set and had it exploded, it would have been the end of the senior Congress leaders standing atop it.

Sudhakaran also said that neither he nor the Congress leaders were scared by the case lodged against them.

Kerala Police on Saturday registered a case against Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition in the assembly V D Satheesan and senior Congress leaders, including MP Shashi Tharoor, in connection with the violence in Thiruvananthapuram during the party's march to the DGP office.

The case was registered by police against Congress MPs, MLAs, leaders and party workers who took part in the protest under various provisions of the IPC, including that of rioting, obstructing roads and preventing public servants from performing their duties.

"Do not try to scare us by lodging a case. We have seen many cases," Sudhakaran said.

Satheesan questioned the rationale behind booking the Congress leaders for criminal offences and destruction of property when water cannons and a tear gas shell were used against them while they were speaking on a stage near the protest site.

He, too, alleged that lodging of the case was an attempt to scare the Congress leaders and said that it was unsuccessful.

Regarding the alleged use of water cannons and tear gas against the Congress leaders, he claimed it was an attempt to harm or kill them as the CM was "angry and frustrated" over the failure of the Nava Kerala Sadas, the state government's outreach programme, and Vijayan becoming a laughingstock before the public.

The LoP said it was the CM who paved the way for conflict and riots in the state by terming assaults on YC-KSU activists as "rescue efforts" and to continue the same.

"Now he is asking us to exercise restraint. He (CM) turned the state into a land of goondas. The police have become mute spectators. The CM is a coward and is arrogant..."

"Policing in Kerala has failed. It is being controlled by a group in the CM's office. Left party criminals are running rampant in the state without concern for law and order," he alleged while speaking at a press conference in Kochi.

He further said that it shows the "double standards" of the CM and his government.

The double standards are also evident in the different modes of action taken against the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), and the YC and KSU activists with regard to showing of black flags, Satheesan contended.

The LoP said that the Congress and the UDF would be organising strong protests against the same in the coming days.

He said that the Congress would face violence against its leaders as well as the YC and KSU activists, both legally and politically.

Sudhakaran, at a press meeting in the state capital, said that Congress will be holding a huge protest at block level in Kerala on December 27 against the alleged police atrocities against them as well as YC and KSU activists.

"The year 2024 will be full of sleepless days for Pinarayi Vijayan," he added.

He said that the Congress will demand a judicial inquiry into all the violence perpetrated against it as well as its student and youth wings and if the government does nothing, it will move the court for the same.

The LoP, in his press conference, also questioned how the Nava Kerala Sadas had benefited the public and alleged it was used by the CM to turn the state into a place of conflict.

"He (CM) is questioning the logic or common sense of the people through his actions. People have realised that the Nava Kerala Sadas was a political campaign at the cost of public money," he claimed.

Satheesan also said that the UDF would be boycotting the swearing-in of K B Ganesh Kumar as he was allegedly behind the conspiracy to implicate late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy in a false case.

"So, we cannot go there and attend his swearing-in ceremony. We ask the CM and the government to withdraw from the decision to make him a minister," he said.