Satheesan tries to use alleged business ties between Jayarajan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar to unsettle LDF, BJP campaigns

March 18, 2024 08:23 pm | Updated 10:47 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has sought to make the alleged business relationship between Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener E.P. Jayarajan and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar a campaign issue, especially in the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

Congress’s high-profile candidate and incumbent MP Sashi Tharoor is locked in a three-pronged contest with Mr. Chandrasekhar and Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Pannian Raveendran in the constituency.

Ayurveda resort

Mr. Satheesan’s accusation that Mr. Jayarajan’s family and Mr. Chandrasekhar were stakeholders in an Ayurveda resort in Kannur has arguably become a political hot potato for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and also the BJP, though in varying degrees.

Both Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Chandrasekhar have denied any personal or business acquaintance. Mr. Jayarajan had claimed that a family member had some minor stake in the resort. He said he had briefly played an advisory role in the institution. Later, Mr. Jayarajan noted that the relative’s firm divested itself of the holdings in the resort.

However, Mr. Satheesan refused to let go and sought to tighten the screws on the CPI(M) leadership.

At a press conference in Attingal on Monday, Mr. Satheesan claimed that he had incontrovertible proof of the alleged business liaison between the two leaders. He dared Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Chandrasekhar to sue him for libel.

Secret alliance

Mr. Satheesan also spotlighted the accusation as emblematic of the CPI(M)’s secret alliance with the BJP in Kerala. He posited it as a counter to the CPI(M) campaign refrain that a vote for the Congress was tantamount to an endorsement of the BJP.

The CPI(M) had highlighted the trickle of defections from the Congress in Kerala to the BJP to persuade the electorate, predominantly the Muslim and Christian voters apprehensive about the Sangh Parivar’s electoral ascendancy, that the ideological line between the political parties was obscure.

Mr. Satheesan said the alleged business relationship was merely the tip of the iceberg, and more instances of the clandestine financial and political liaison between the BJP and the CPI(M) would appear soon in the public domain. Mr. Satheesan alleged that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the Income Tax (I-T) department had dropped their investigations into the supposedly dubious sources of funding for the Ayurveda resort after Mr. Chandrasekhar acquired stakes in the institution.

BJP State president K. Surendran said Mr. Satheesan was aiding the CPI(M) by refusing to discuss livelihood and developmental issues.