Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 16 (IANS): In a revelation that could have large scale ramifications in the upcoming April 6 assembly polls, a top RSS ideologue has alleged that there seems to be a secret deal between the CPI-M in Kerala and the State BJP leadership.
R. Balasankar, a former editor of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, while speaking to a Malayalam TV channel on Tuesday said that he has now realised that the reason for denying him the Chengannur assembly seat was perhaps due to an alleged secret deal between the state units of the BJP and the CPI-M.
"Chengannur and Aranmula are two constituencies where the BJP is strong and I had started my campaign at Chengannur. I managed to strike a relation with three major social groups. But later when I found that another BJP candidate was named for Chengannur, I realised that there was some alleged secret deal between the BJP and CPI-M, as the candidate was close to the present sitting CPI-M legislator. A similar candidate has also been listed to contest from Aranmula," said Balasankar.
Incidentally, for a while now, even the Congress leaders here have been harping on the alleged secret link between the BJP and the CPI-M and it became all the more stronger after the investigation into the infamous gold smuggling and reverse dollar hawala cases, suddenly went into limbo.
And now with the RSS ideologue's allegations also surfacing, it's going to be taken forward by the Congress during the ongoing election campaign, which has just commenced.
Reacting to Balasankar's statement, two time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, after filing his nomination papers said this is what we have been saying for a while now.
"The CPI-M is aiming to retain power, while the BJP wants to get a few more legislators and this is what we have been saying that there is a deal. Look, nothing can be kept as a secret for long and just see, what we have been saying has come out from their side itself. The people of Kerala are observing everything and they can never be fooled," said Chandy.
In the 140-member Kerala assembly, the BJP opened its account for the first time in 2016 by winning one seat.