New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Anil Antony, on Thursday, accused the Congress and CPI-M of engaging in "vote bank politics" in the state ahead of the next month's Assembly election.

This statement by Antony comes after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's sharp attack on Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the Congress and its leader have historically functioned as the “B-team of the BJP", even as he dismissed charges of a “Communist Janata Party" i.e. a purported CPI(M)-BJP nexus in the state.

Antony told IANS, "We all know who is the B-team, look at Kerala right now. The CPI-M and the Congress, both are part of the alliance at the national stage, the INDI alliance. This is all vote bank politics. Now just for vote bank, CPI-M and the Congress are accusing each other of working with us (BJP)."

"Just two-three days back, the seat sharing in states like Tamil Nadu and Puducherry took place, there both the CPI-M and Congress are alliance partners. In Bihar also they were in an alliance. I believe in Bengal also they are in an alliance. In Rajasthan too. In more than twenty states across India, they are in an alliance," he said.

BJP leader Antony said, "(Congress MP) K.C. Venugopal also made some statement and now Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan made a similar statement. These are all vote bank politics."

Venugopal, during a recent media interaction, had alleged a covert political understanding between the CPI-M and the BJP, and described Pinarayi Vijayan as a "compromised Chief Minister".

Antony also accused both the Congress and CPI-M of creating confusion in Kerala ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

He also said, "In Kerala, just to create confusion among the people they (CPI-M and Congress) are creating these kind of political narratives. Both the CPI-M and Congress in Kerala have been in an understanding for a long time to keep the BJP out."

Highlighting BJP's campaign in the run-up to the state elections, Antony said, "This time BJP is the only party in Kerala that is focusing on a narration that is development-oriented. While the other two parties (CPI-M and Congress) are focusing on narrations that are more focused on communalism and creating confusion among the people."

"BJP's mission is to ensure that the party becomes the number one party in Kerala and keeps both the CPI-M and Congress out of power in the upcoming Assembly polls."

--IANS

cg/khz