1 week ago
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Kerala’s Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said that LDF convenor E.P. Jayarajan’s admission that he secretly parleyed with BJP’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar had drawn the curtains back on the CPI(M)‘s tacit understanding with the BJP to disadvantage the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Kerala.
Mr. Satheesan accused Mr. Vijayan of authorising Mr. Jayarajan’s meeting with Mr. Javadekar and later throwing the LDF convenor under the bus when the embarrassing details of the conclave emerged in the public domain on the poll day on April 26.
Mr. Satheesan said that Mr. Vijayan had “pre-emptively scapegoated” Mr. Jayarajan to escape the onus of a crippling defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He said that Mr. Vijayan sought to escape blame for his “failures and crimes” as Chief Minister by holding Mr. Jayarajan accountable for the poor showing at the hustings.
Mr. Satheesan alleged that the CPI(M) had struck a secret compact with the BJP to channel party votes to the latter’s candidate in Thrissur.
Central agencies investigating the party-controlled Karuvannur cooperative bank case had arm-twisted the CPI(M) leadership into agreeing to such an ignominious accommodation. For one, he said the LDF had allowed the use of polarising motifs at Thrissur Pooram.
Mr. Satheesan said the CBI’s long-pending petition in the Supreme Court to reinvestigate the SNC-Lavalin corruption case indicated Mr. Vijayan’s “symbiotic association” with the BJP’s national leadership.
