The CPM has alleged that the idea of the weakening of the Congress leading to the BJP gaining strength in Kerala was being used to skew Muslim votes in the grand old party's favour ahead of polls.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the Indian Union Muslim League and the Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Welfare Party were unleashing a campaign on the Muslim communities for communal polarisation of votes in favour of the Congress-led UDF.
He further said that in many states, Congress MLAs who had won the elections were seen jumping over to the BJP and that the CPM was the only political outfit that could ensure the protection of minority communities.
The Welfare Party's leadership denied the allegations against such a campaign but maintained that not only the Congress but also the CPM would witness a flow of partyworkers joining the BJP in the coming days.
Welfare Party Chairman Hameed Vaniyambalam said that there would only be one difference between the Congress and the CPM if that happens— it would mainly be the leaders in the Congress who will jump over to the BJP and in the case of CPM, it would be party workers.
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Vaniyambalam also said that the Welfare Party would not have any sort of a tie-up with the Congress-led UDF or CPM-led LDF, but would contest independently in the Assembly election by highlighting social justice and equality. The Welfare Party candidates won 65 seats in the recent local body polls.
Political analysts have been maintaining that the BJP might prefer to defeat the Congress in Kerala in the coming election rather than the CPM. This, they said, was not only because it is the BJP's long-term agenda to have a 'Congress-Mukt Bharat', but it would also help the party in wooing many Congress leaders to join it in Kerala in due course of time, thereby strengthening the saffron party in the state.
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