By Siddharth
Ernakulam (Kerala) [India], March 29 : Kerala's outgoing Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader VD Satheesan reiterated his claim of a secret deal between the CPI(M) and the BJP-led NDA in the state, claiming that the Left government is appeasing the latter to stall investigations into various corruption cases.
In an interview with ANI, the MLA, who is seeking re-election from the North Paravur Assembly constituency in the upcoming April 9 Assembly polls, also alleged that central agencies ED and CBI have gone soft on cases involving the Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan's family (SNC-Lavalin, Gold smuggling, and his daughter's firm) in exchange for political favours.
"Everything was compromised. No ED, no CBI, nothing in Kerala. The SNC-Lavalin case has been postponed 40 times in the Supreme Court because the CBI lawyer does not appear. The ED started investigations against the CM's son and daughter, but no action followed. The Chief Minister is attacking Rahul Gandhi in abusive language only to be in the good books of the BJP because he is scared of the central agencies," he added.
Satheesan also dismissed allegations of the leader of Hindu Aikya Vedi, a pro-RSS outfit, RV Babu, who has claimed that the UDF chairman VD Satheesan had sought support from the RSS during the 2001 and 2006 Assembly elections in Kerala.
"RV Babu is an anti-Congressman who moved to Paravur after committing fraud. I have not met any RSS leader to ask for help in the election; RV Babu and the Chief Minister are now on the same side. It was Pinarayi Vijayan who held discussions with RSS leaders and sent MR Ajith Kumar for those talks. Answer this allegation first," Satheesan said.
Satheesan has previously alleged that Ajith Kumar, who was the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) for Law and Order, had met with RSS leaders in 2023. Congress has claimed that this meeting resulted in aiding the win of Suresh Gopi, the BJP candidate in Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in 2024.
"The problem only arises when the Welfare Party supports the UDF, but there was no issue when the PDP supported the LDF," Satheesan said.
The Jamaat-e-Islami backed Welfare Party of India (WPI) has declared support for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) for this Assembly elections in Kerala. Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, Abdul Nazir Maudany, announced earlier this month that the party will extend its support to LDF candidates.
Asked whether a UDF government will investigate allegations against CM Vijayan, Satheesan said they will not resort to vengeance but will initate a probe into serious charges.
"We will expose him. We have exposed him. This deal is open. But we are not talking about that. We have five guarantees, we have future politics, and we have alternative programs. We will go. We will change Kerala like anything," Satheesan said.
"We have made some allegations against the government. We will not take our government for taking vengeance. But in serious matters, we will enquire. We will investigate, definitely," he said.
The Opposition Leader claimed that the political narrative in Kerala has shifted due to an under-the-table understanding between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the BJP leadership.
"There is a BJP-CPIM deal in Kerala. To prove that, I have shown it in various constituencies," Satheesan said.
"Last time, the BJP State President contested from the Konni assembly seat in Pathanamthitta. BJP State President is contesting in an A-class seat. He got 32,000 votes. For the BJP, it is a big vote. But this time, their irrelevant coalition partner is contesting," he said.

The Congress leader cited the example of Palakkad constituency, where he claimed the CPI(M) has fielded a candidate specifically to split UDF votes and facilitate a BJP victory.
"...in Palakkad, we won with 18,000 votes margin. Second place was the BJP. CPIM was in the vulnerable third. Now the CPIM has fielded a candidate to split our votes, to enable a win for the BJP," the Opposition leader in Kerala said.
Similarly, in constituencies like Ranni (near Sabarimala), he alleged that the BJP is not contesting or has fielded "irrelevant" coalition partners to indirectly help the CPI(M). Even in Thripunithura, where the BJP has won a municipality, they are not contesting seriously. The BJP is providing seats to its partners to favour the Left, Satheesan alleged.

"Ranni, where the Sabarimala temple is situated. That place, the BJP is not contesting. Another irrelevant "Twenty20", their partner is contesting. There is no Twenty20 in that district. That is why they are trying to help," he said.
"...in this district, Thripunithura, they got 25,000 votes last time. And the first time in history, they got a municipality, Thripunithura. Even then, the BJP is not contesting there. BJP is giving all the seats, the winning... the possibility of seats where they are getting more votes. They are giving, providing to their coalition, irrelevant coalition partners to help the CPIM."
BJP, which fielded K Surendran, who secured over 32,000 votes, has this time given the Konni seat to their alliance partner, the BDJS. CPI (M)- backed Independent candidate NMR Razaq, Sobha Surendran from the BJP and actor Ramesh Pisharody from the Congress are vying for the Palakkad assembly seat.

In Nemam, the contest will be between the UDF and the LDF, and there is a UDF wave in Kerala.
Satheesan, who has been representing the Paravur constituency since 2001, has seen a steady increase in his victory margins. In the 2016 Assembly elections, he won the seat with a margin of 20,634 votes. Maintaining his stronghold, he further improved his performance in the 2021 Assembly polls, securing the seat with an increased margin of 21,301 votes.
Exuding confidence in a win for the Congress-led United Democratic Front, the 61-year-old Satheesan, who is also an advocate, says the UDF government will return to power with a huge margin, winning over 100 of the 140 Assembly seats in the State.
"We won all except one; we won all the by-elections with wonderful margins. Double, triple, six times majority. We won in the Thrikkakara by-election, we won in Puthuppally, Palakkad... only in Chelakkara we failed. But we reduced the majority of CPIM from 40,000 to 12,000. And in the parliamentary election, we increased our margin over 2019. We won 18 seats out of 20 seats," he said.
The Congress leader noted that in the local body election that happened in Kerala and despite the rigorous campaigning by the Left, including CM Vijayan, the UDF candidates scored victories.
"We received a wonderful victory, the biggest victory in 30 years. All the places, all the local... You know, in Kerala, it is a political fight. Not like the rest of the states are happening. Kerala, all the local body elections... this is a continuous thing. We have been winning all the elections. In the by-elections, the Chief Minister and 20 ministers are camping for one month. Even then, we are winning with big margins. So that will be continued. We will come back with 100-plus seats," he said.
The Congress-led UDF won 18 out of 20 seats in Kerala in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In June 2022, UDF candidate Uma Thomas won the Thrikkakara assembly by-election with a record margin of 25,016 votes, defeating LDF's Jo Joseph. In September 2023, Chandy Oommen of the UDF won by a landslide, securing a margin of 36,454 votes against LDF's Jaick C. Thomas, exceeding his father Oommen Chandy's previous record in the constituency.
The UDF retained the Palakkad Assembly seat on November 23, 2024. Candidate Rahul Mamkootathil defeated BJP's C Krishnakumar and LDF-backed independent P Sarin.