CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has alleged that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had brokered the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the new political outfit to be formed by SNDP Yogam leader Vellappally Natesan.
While Mr. Chandy used Mr. Natesan as a conduit to reach out to the BJP, he deputed UDF leader Rajan Babu as the intermediary to forge the alliance, he said during a face-to-face programme organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club on Saturday. “It is significant that the Chief Minister is maintaining a stony silence on Mr. Natesan’s attempt to form a new party while KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran has come out against the move,” he said.
Mr. Balakrishnan said the SNDP leadership was interested in protecting only the interests of the affluent sections among the Ezhava community.
This, he said, had paved the way for them to find common ground with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which was against reservation.
The majority of members of the SNDP Yogam had always voted for the political party of their choice. They would oppose the move to form an alliance with communal forces, he added.
Mr. Balakrishnan said the third front proposed by Mr. Natesan would remain stillborn. “The BJP has already denied having anything to do with the new coalition. The UDF expects to benefit from the political experiment,” he said.
He alleged that Mr.Natesan had bought the loyalty of SNDP members by drawing them into a debt trap through microfinance ventures of the SNDP. The allegations of financial misappropriation raised by Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan against Mr. Natesan were serious, he said.
He urged the government to set up a special investigation team to probe the allegations raised by Biju Ramesh, working president, Bar Owners Association, about the involvement of Mr. Natesan and his son in the death of Swami Saswathikananda of the Sivagiri Madhom.
The UDF government, he said, had failed to bring price rise under control and address the crisis in the agricultural sector.
