Sitaram Yechury sees BJP-Congress match-fixing

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state later this week was aimed at cementing the match-fixing between the Congress and BJP.

Mr Yechury said the BJP-RSS were targeting the LDF in the state as they considered Congress their “B” team in Kerala. The CPI(M) general secretary said the fact that the Congress and RSS-BJP were attacking the LDF in the same voice was proof enough of the deal they have struck.

He said the BJP was trying to piggy-back on some community organisations to make inroads into the LDF. However, the people of the state had seen through their devious design and would defeat such moves, he said. Left sources said some of the top leaders had claimed that the increase in vote share of the BJP would be at the cost of the LDF. The BJP-RSS combine is deliberately adopting a “soft” approach towards the Congress-led Oommen Chandy government.

The Congress is also reciprocating in the same manner. Left leaders say Mr Modi’s rhetoric would not work in Kerala as people have seen through the “jumlabaji” and false promises made by the PM. The LDF plans to expose the Modi government’s failure to check the prices of essential commodities, hike in prices of diesel and petrol, LPG and farmer suicides.

The Left leadership believes that the voters will not be carried away by the PM or his false promises. They cite the example of Bihar and Delhi, where Mr Modi had unleashed a huge propaganda campaign and even projected the polls as a fight between him and the rest.

The Left camp is hopeful of people rejecting Mr Modi’s statements. Political observers say a sizeable section of the minorities in the state are wary of the BJP’s agenda in the state. There is also a possibility of a section of minorities shifting towards the Left.

Meanwhile, LDF star campaigner V.S. Achuthanandan, who concluded his current round of campaigning on Wednesday, is back in his constituency Malampuzha. While he is planning to stay put in his constituency till polling day, considering the huge demand for the veteran leader from various candidates the party might arrange some public meetings elsewhere ahead of polling on May 16.