Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], June 29 (ANI): Kerala State BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday slammed the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), calling it the Congress's 'B-team' and accusing it of the 'same corruption and appeasement politics.' He also claimed the Left government's opposition to the Bharat Mata portrait was an attempt to distract people from real issues in the state.

CPI(M) is trying to distract the people of Kerala from the real issues: nine years of failures by the LDF government, nearly no progress in development, high unemployment, and rising inflation. Instead, they are trying to divert attention from those important issues to meaningless ones, such as their opposition to Bharat Mata and the Tricolour,' Chandrasekhar told ANI.

'It is not relevant to the people of Kerala... You did not do anything except become a B-Party of the Congress party, characterised by the same corruption, appeasement politics, and a lack of development and opportunities for our youngsters,' he added.

A political row has erupted in Kerala over the Raj Bhavan's use of the Bharat Mata portrait at public functions of Governor Rajendra Arlekar. Both the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF have accused the Raj Bhavan of 'superseding' national symbols by using images and rituals with political and religious overtones, including paying obeisance to the 'RSS' Bharat Mata portrait' at the Governor's public functions.

However, the Raj Bhavan's position is that Bharat Mata was emblematic of a unified Mother India and on a par with other national symbols.

Chandrasekhar also claimed that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won the recent Nilambur Assembly by-election due to support from Jamaat-e-Islami, which he described as an 'illegal, anti-national, and anti-constitutional organisation.'

Kerala State BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed on Sunday that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won the recent Nilambur Assembly by-election due to support from Jamaat-e-Islami, which he described as an 'illegal, anti-national, and anti-constitutional' organisation.'

'This is a victory for Nilambur in particular. For the UDF, this has been possible due to two reasons: the active support of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is an illegal, anti-national, and anti-constitutional organisation, and the division of the CPM votes... While the UDF views Nilambur as reflecting the sentiment of Kerala, the majority of Kerala is unlikely to vote for the Jamaat-e-Islami's mandate... It is an extremely dangerous and desperate political move by the Congress to bring the Jamaat-e-Islami into the mainstream,' the BJP leader said.

UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress defeated LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) by a large margin of 11,077 votes in the Nilambur assembly by-election, polling for which was held on June 19.

Shoukath had secured 77,737 votes, a lead of 11,077 votes from M Swaraj of the CPM after 19 rounds of counting.

Earlier reacting to the bypoll results, CPI(M) State secretary MV Govindan had said the UDF conducted a communally divisive campaign using its alliance with the 'radical Islamist' Jama'at-e-Islami as a front.

The CPI (M) leader said that the UDF opened the door for Islamist and Hindu majoritarian outfits to leverage votes through schismatic communal messaging. The IUML and Congress have abandoned broad-based party politics. Instead, they have stoked profoundly divisive identity politics for electoral gain, Govindan said. (ANI)