Priyanka Gandhi contesting with Jamaat-E-Islami support: Kerala CM

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday alleged that Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is contesting the Wayanad by-election with the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami and dared the Congress to state it does not need the votes of the organisation, which is widely seen as a Muslim fundamentalist group, a frontal attack that pit Vijayan's CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) against the Congress, its INDIA bloc ally.

The CPI's Sathyan Mokeri is contesting against Gandhi Vadra.

The Congress had not responded to the charge till press time.


The comments come at a time when the Congress is consciously underplaying the flags of its ally and mainstream Muslim party, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), in Wayanad fearing a BJP attack as happened earlier during Rahul Gandhi's campaign in the constituency.

"The mask of the secular face of the Congress has completely come off during this Wayanad by-election. Priyanka Gandhi is contesting with the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami . What is the Congress position on it?," Vijayan, also a member of the CPI (M) polit bureau, said in a post on Facebook. "Our nation is not unfamiliar with Jamaat-e-Islami. Does that organisation's ideology align with the principles of democracy? Jamaat-e-Islami does not give importance to the nation and democracy."

Targeting the Congress, the CM further said, "Shouldn't those who stand by secularism strongly oppose all kinds of communalism? Is the Congress able to do that? It is by enduring some 'sacrifices' even the likes of Muslim League are now standing with this Congress-Jamaat-e-Islami alliance. Can the Congress state that it does not need the votes of Jamaat-e-Islami? To have that courage of conviction, the responsible leaders of the Congress must recollect how EMS (late EM Shankaran Namboodiripad, former CPI (M) chief) had proclaimed during the Thalassery by-election that 'we don't want the votes of RSS'. Can the Congress take such a stand?"