After PM Modi's Kerala pitch, BJP says Congress, CPM to forge alliance in state

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 3

A day after the Left and Congress coalition’s debacle in Tripura and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cue for the South, the BJP threw a fresh spanner at the opposition allies predicting they would ally in Kerala next.

“The two friends have a lot to hide in Kerala. The ruling LDF is battling the impact of the SNC Lavalin scam, gold smuggling case and troubles within the Chief Minister’s office. An alliance of the Congress and Left will help both. Rahul Gandhi can secure his Wayanad parliamentary seat and CM Pinarayi Vijayan can silence opposition Congress over the scams haunting his government,” BJP’s senior leader Tom Vadakkan said today, predicting that the two parties “will ally in the southern states after similar though failed experiments in Tripura and West Bengal”.

BJP’s remarks are strategic. They follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s declaration that after the minority-dominated Northeast, Kerala will vote the BJP and allies to power.

The BJP’s Kerala push comes parallel to the party’s consistent attack against Popular Front of India, which was banned by the Centre recently and allegations of the opposition being hand and glove with this “anti-national group”.

The timing of Vadakkan’s remarks is significant too, with BJP leaders privately admitting to a “growing sense of unease in Kerala around ‘love jihad’, ‘land jihad’ and drug menace and a gradual soaring of sympathy for the BJP”.

In this context, BJP leaders hammer Congress veteran AK Antony’s recent advice to party workers to “be alert and take the majority community along in the fight against fascism”.