"Playing BJP's Game": Shashi Tharoor Accuses Left Of Dividing Votes

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday alleged that the "only effect" of the CPI's campaign against him in Thiruvananthapuram is to "divide the anti-BJP vote".

In a post on X, the senior Congress leader said, "It's ironic that the same @cpofindia that complains about @RahulGandhi's candidature in Wayanad is playing the BJP's game in Thiruvananthapuram".

His post added: "The only effect of the CPI's campaign against me in Thiruvananthapuram is to divide the anti-BJP vote. And they preach alliance dharma in Wayanad!"

Reacting to this, CPI General Secretary D Raja said it is left that is "fighting the communal and fascist forces".

"It is an absurd statement. An educated man like Shashi Tharoor must understand the history of Kerala properly. It is the Left that is fighting the communal and fascist forces...so many Congress leaders are leaving and joining BJP," he said.

Hitting back, the CPI leader questioned why is the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad in Kerala.

"Rahul Gandhi claims that he is spearheading the fight against BJP, then why is he contesting from Wayanad and fighting against LDF? Congress must explain, what message they want to convey to people. Who are their main political enemies...," Mr Raja told the news agency ANI on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Mr Tharoor believes that his work over the last 15 years in the constituency will speak for itself.

"I've served the people of Thiruvananthapuram for 15 years. They know me and have seen my service. It's not as if I've got anything to be ashamed of in my track record. I've been consistently available and attended to all the major issues," he said.

"It's always been a three-cornered fight here because I took the seat from the LDF. They had won it two times before me and then in the last two times, the BJP came second. So we have to take both candidates seriously. I'm very confident that I would prevail," Mr Tharoor said on Monday.

BJP has fielded Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar against Congress MP Tharoor.

Pannyan Raveendran, the Left Democratic Front's Lok Sabha candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, said that the main fight in the constituency is between the LDF and the Congress-led UDF.

"The main contest is between LDF and UDF. BJP is irrelevant in Thiruvananthapuram," Mr Raveendran who won the constituency in 2005 told ANI on Tuesday.

Kerala will hold elections in a single phase on April 26. There are 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala and the BJP has never won a parliamentary seat in the state.

Earlier in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA won 353 seats, the UPA stood at 91, and others won 98.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)