Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's "personal invitation" to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to attend the Nehru Trophy Boat Race as Chief Guest on September 4 has rankled the Congress and sparked a new political controversy.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said political expediency underscored the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Kerala unit's pronounced slant towards the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The State CPI(M)'s "cosying up" to the Sangh Parivar was prima facie in variance with the stated position of the party's national leadership. Mr. Satheesan's tirade against the CPI(M) in Kerala came on Sunday's eve of the party's "extraordinary" leadership meeting at the AKG Centre here.
He said the CPI(M) 's national leadership was hostage to the political whims and fancies of the party's State leadership. Mr. Satheesan asked whether fear of legal jeopardy in the SNC-Lavlin case and UAE gold smuggling case had prompted Mr. Vijayan to court Mr. Shah.
He said secular democrats in the country were up in arms against the Gujarat government's controversial decision to grant remission of sentence to 11 Sangh Parivar activists convicted for the murder of seven men and gang rape of three women during the 2002 communal riots. At the time, Mr. Shah was Gujarat's Home Minister.
The CPI(M) national leadership had condemned the premature release of the convicts. However, the CPI(M) State leadership had rolled out the red carpet for Mr. Shah at Mr. Vijayan's instance.
The government has also invited Mr. Shah to speak at the southern zone council meeting of southern States at Kovalam on September 3.
Mr. Satheesan said the CPI(M) had tarnished N.K. Premachandran, MP, for inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate a Central-funded National Highway bypass in his constituency.
It had berated Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Shibu John for calling on Mr. Modi when the former was a Cabinet minister. But, Mr. Vijayan appeared to have no compunction in politically aligning with the BJP's central leadership.
Mr. Satheesan said the CPI(M) and BJP interests dovetailed during the Assembly elections in 2021. The CPI(M) was desperate for a second term in power. The BJP was hell-bent on diminishing the Congress in Kerala as part of its national stratagem to rid the country of Mahatma Gandhi's party. He said the marriage of convenience had now evolved into a symbiotic relationship.
