On Sunday, Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) pushed back against what it perceived as a politically loaded and communally polarising bid by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) to stigmatise its ally and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader N.K. Premachandran, MP, for attending a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament in New Delhi last week.
A viral photograph shared on social media by Mr. Modi showing him lunching with a select group of MPs cutting across the political spectrum, including Mr. Premachandran, seemingly catalysed LDF’s alleged bid to “cast a slur” on the RSP leader’s secular credentials and, by extension, the UDF, as both fronts primed their electioneering weapons in their respective political armouries ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Blurred ideological lines
LDF convenor E.P. Jayarajan fired the first shot across the bow of the UDF by positing that Mr. Modi’s “tete-a-tete meal” with Mr. Premachandran testified to a purportedly tacit electoral understanding between the BJP and UDF in the State and showed the ideological line between the political entities were blurred in Kerala.
An LDF insider who attempted to read the political tea leaves in the Modi-Premachandran “heart-to-heart” postulated that perhaps the photograph that arguably radiated the aura of a political bonhomie might be a subtle cue for BJP workers to vote tactically for the UDF candidate in Kollam when the push came to the shove.
The LDF’s tactical gambit to consolidate minority votes in its favour in the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency by questioning Mr. Premachandran’s political loyalties seemed linked to the calculation that the BJP, with 10% of the vote share in the 2019 LS elections in the Kollam constituency, remained a potential game changer who could play spoilsport for either fronts.
Leader of the Opposition V. D Satheesan accused the LDF of playing communally schematic politics by attempting to cast Mr. Premachandran as a covert Sangh Parivar enthusiast.
He said Mr. Premachandran had displayed political propriety and followed protocol by graciously accepting the Prime Minister’s invitation.
He said the CPI(M)’s attacks against Mr. Premachandran, a fierce critic of the Modi government in the Parliament, seemed calibrated to benefit the BJP.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said the SFIO probe against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter, T Veena, belied Mr. Satheesan’s innuendo that the CPI(M) and BJP were in cahoots in Kerala.
He said the ruling front and Opposition, both INDIA bloc allies, were political bedfellows pantomiming as enemies to hoodwink Kerala’s electorate.
