Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 4 (IANS): The Kerala unit of the BJP on Monday slammed the CPI-M strategy of lending support to the Congress in states where it is in direct contest with the saffron party in order to "ensure a secular government at the Centre".

Terming it as an alliance of convenience, state BJP chief P.S. Sreedharan Pillai said: "The opportunistic alliance ignores the separate ideologies of the two sides and indicates the lows to which these parties have fallen. But people in Kerala are quite competent enough to see through this."

The CPI-M at its Central Committee meeting in the state capital on Monday reiterated that its electoral tactics in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be based on defeating the BJP alliance, increasing the strength of the CPI-M and the Left in the Lok Sabha and ensuring that an alternative secular government is formed at the Centre.

"In order to ensure the maximum pooling of anti-BJP votes, state level electoral tactics are being worked out. In states where the direct contest is between the Congress and BJP, the CPI-M will contest one or two seats and campaign generally for the defeat of the BJP," said a CPI-M statement issued in Delhi.