Kerala Assembly elections 2026 | 'Deal or no deal?': Congress alleges CPI(M)-BJP pact in some seats to keep party out of power

CPI(M) has vehemently denied the charge and accused Congress of not effectively fighting BJP

New Delhi: If one were to boil down the election campaign in Kerala to a single catchword, it would be ‘deal’, something that has even brought the top leadership — from Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan — at each other’s throat.

The Congress has hammered the CPI(M) with the accusation that it has entered into a “deal” with the BJP where both help each other in around a dozen seats to keep the former away from power for another term. It alleges the CPI(M) will be the bigger beneficiary while helping the BJP also to win a few seats in Kerala.

It has now come full circle with a role reversal, where the CPI(M) faces the music over charges of the BJP helping a rival and the Congress playing the aggressor. The Congress claims that BJP aids Vijayan in corruption cases and retaining power while the CPI(M) is helping it win a couple of seats.

The CPI(M) vehemently denies the charges and accuses the Congress of not effectively fighting the BJP by targeting former allies like the AAP. It points fingers at decisions of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s as a tacit approval of the BJP.

While behind-the-curtain manoeuvres by individuals in a seat or two were not uncommon, Kerala was first rocked by allegations of an electoral deal in 1991 when the BJP, which had 5-6% votes, did not field candidates in Beypore Assembly and Vadakara Lok Sabha seats to defeat the CPI(M) in its stronghold.

The CPI(M)-led LDF had then managed to retain both the seats with 50% vote share despite the UDF candidates getting more votes. 

When the BJP fielded candidates in these seats in 1996, they retained 5-6% votes that the party had polled in 1982 and 1987, indicating that there was indeed a deal between the Congress and the BJP, which the Left christened as “Ko-Lee-B (Congress-League-BJP)” alliance. 

“The 1991 victories were a morale booster for the Left, as it showed that they still enjoyed the confidence of people despite all its opponents ganging up against the CPI(M),” Rajeev Devaraj, a veteran journalist closely watching Kerala politics, said.

However, the CPI(M) has come under a cloud of suspicion over charges of being in cahoots with the BJP in the past 10 years unlike in the previous decades when its credentials were not in doubt.

Some even accuse Vijayan — who in 2015 made a statement by eating beef in Delhi’s Kerala House when minorities were under attack from right-wing elements — of not being as sharp in his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his Opposition colleagues M K Stalin and Mamata Banerjee. Critics also refer to his government surreptitiously accepting the ‘PM-Shri’ scheme.

The Opposition charges that in the Assembly elections, the BJP has fielded weak candidates or handed over their strong seats to allies like ‘BJDS’ and ‘Twenty20’ to enable the CPI(M)’s victory. Also, the CPI(M) has tweaked its strategy to project its pro-Hindu face after not being able to hold on to minority votes as also losing traditional backward Ezhava voters.

The common refrain is that the BJP expects to fill the vacuum created by a diminished Congress and to achieve this, it could help the CPI(M). 

“I am not saying there is a deal. The BJP’s main enemy is no longer the diminished Left. If the Congress loses in a State where there are nearly 50% minorities, it sends a signal that it is in the last leg of decline. The resistance to the BJP will end and the BJP knows it well,” political scientist J Prabhash said.

Another section that looks at this with some anxiety is the minorities, which appears to be rallying behind the Congress-led UDF. Also, the CPI(M)’s perceived pro-Hindu approach and criticism of minority organisations have added to their anxiety.