Binoy Viswam, Kerala State secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), has alleged a “deal” between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming bypoll from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, where All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the candidate of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from Wayanad is Sathyan Mokeri, national council member of the CPI and a three-time MLA.
Addressing the media in Kozhikode on Saturday (November 2, 2024), Mr. Viswam claimed that businessman Robert Vadra, Ms. Vadra’s husband, may have played a role in the “deal”. The CPI leader alleged that only Mr. Vadra and their son accompanied Ms. Vadra when she entered the Wayanad District Collector’s room to submit her nomination papers.
“Even Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders from Kerala were reportedly not allowed inside. Who is Mr. Vadra? He is just a businessman who wants to make money. What is his track record? Why did a company linked to him donate ₹170 crore to the BJP through the tainted electoral bond scheme?” Mr. Viswam asked.
He also sought to know the political background of Navya Haridas, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate fielded by the BJP in Wayanad.
In the previous election, party State president K. Surendran was the NDA candidate from Wayanad. The BJP nominating a councillor from the Kozhikode Corporation, relatively a weak candidate, for an election keenly watched at the national level raised many doubts about its intentions, he said.
“If there is any deal in this election, it could be here. The BJP and the Congress are together in their fight against the Left,” Mr. Viswam alleged.
He claimed that there were “unseen political undercurrents” in Wayanad in favour of the LDF candidate.
Published - November 02, 2024 04:13 pm IST
