Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the BJP’s invitation to the IUML to join the NDA was not surprising.
When pressed about BJP national executive member Sobha Surendran’s overture to the IUML, Mr. Vijayan said: “It is merely a public expression of the Congress-BJP-IUML axis. Its genesis in Vadakara and Beypore. The IUML would not openly align with the BJP at least for now. However, the axis remained strong,” he said.
The difference between the Congress and the BJP was thin. Congress leaders have toed a soft Hindutva line. BJP’s economic policy equalled that of the Congress. It was characteristic of the UDF to align with the BJP to defeat the LDF electorally, he said.
In Gujarat, the Congress had not fielded anybody against the BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate. The Congress was fast losing its political relevance. Its legislators and Ministers in Puducherry had defected to the BJP. In Kerala, the Congress was the ideological echo chamber of the BJP. Both parroted the same set of lies against the LDF, Mr. Vijayan said.
