Kasaragod: CPM general secretary MA Baby on Sunday dismissed UDF allegations of a pact between the party and the SDPI for the Kerala Assembly elections. Addressing the media here, he said the CPM had neither held discussions with the SDPI nor entered into any agreement with it.

Baby issued the clarification minutes after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asserted that the LDF would not support any communal forces. Amid the election campaign, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala had accused CPM of entering into a deal with the SDPI in Mankada and Vengara for the Assembly polls. However, both the Chief Minister and the CPM leadership rejected the claims.

“If such a pact existed, we would have discussed it with them. But the CPM has not held any discussions. The CPM and the LDF will not engage with parties that pursue politics along communal lines or enter into any agreement with them,” he said.

Baby added that the focus of the election should not be on which way organisations such as the SDPI, Jamaat-e-Islami, or its political wing, the Welfare Party, would vote.

“This has become a major talking point for the UDF because it depends on such parties. In the past, it had an understanding with the RSS in the Nemom Assembly constituency and the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency,” he alleged.

He further claimed that there was a tacit understanding between the Congress and the BJP during last year’s local body elections in the Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam Corporations.

“Congress helped the BJP win in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, while the BJP supported the Congress in Kollam Corporation,” he alleged.

He also claimed that the Welfare Party functioned as an ally of the UDF in the local body polls. Baby reiterated that the CPM would not engage with the SDPI or the Welfare Party unless such groups abandon communal politics.

He cautioned people against divisive forces attempting to influence voters along communal and caste lines.

“The CPM and the LDF uphold secular values and do not divide people on the basis of religion, caste, or language. The LDF government has taken the state forward across sectors over the past 10 years and deserves another term,” he said.

On reports of dissent within the CPM, Baby said such developments were not new and would not affect the party.

“In the past, several prominent leaders, including K.R. Gouri Amma, left the party, yet it continued to grow. Those who leave may regret it later, but the party remains strong,” he said.