Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. (File Photo)
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday hit back at CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan who has alleged that there is a secret tie-up between the Congress-led UDF and the BJP-RSS in Kerala for the upcoming assembly polls.
Addressing reporters in Kozhikode, Mr Chandy, who is touring the northern districts of the state as part of the election campaign, said the Congress has never ever tied up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has done so.
"I am surprised that Vijayan is making baseless allegations about this, and who does not know that it's being done purposefully to appease the minority community (Muslims) to get a few votes," said Mr Chandy.
Elaborating on the tie-up that the CPI-M in Kerala had with the erstwhile Jana Sangh, Mr Chandy said "Soon after the lifting of Emergency in 1977, we saw that Vijayan contested the assembly polls and so did K.G. Marar, the Jana Sangh leader".
"They shared the stage together and a tie-up was there between the two parties. They said they joined hands because of the Emergency, but the elections were held after lifting of the Emergency, so that does not hold good to substantiate their tie-up. And instead they are blaming us," said Mr Chandy.
Mr Chandy pointed out that during the Bihar assembly polls last year, the CPI-M had played truant. "The CPI-M has a blind opposition to (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi; otherwise they would have joined the grand alliance in Bihar. Instead they contested separately, and it helped the BJP to win an additional 11 seats," said Mr Chandy.
"Vijayan should now come clear on his allegations that I had talks with the BJP/RSS," said Mr Chandy.
In Kerala the principle poll battle is between the traditional rivals - the UDF and the CPI-M led LDF, while the BJP is yet to open its account in the 140-member Kerala assembly. During the 2011 assembly polls, the BJP finished second in just three constituencies while it was pushed to a distant third in more than 100 constituencies.
With the BJP increasing its vote share gradually over the years from single digit in the 2006 assembly polls to double digits in the last local body elections, the traditional rival fronts are yet to come to terms on which among them is going to benefit.
State BJP president, Kummanem Rajasekheran on Monday lashed out at both fronts and said the CPI-M and Congress are playing a double game to fool the people.
"In West Bengal the Congress and CPI-M are hand in glove, while they are here to fool the people. They fight each other in the open but on the sly they join hands together to see that they defeat the BJP here," said Mr Rajasekheran in a press release.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)