Ahead of INDIA meeting, CPI(M)'s Brittas questions Rahul Gandhi's "approach and conduct" over BJP-link allegations

Brittas further said, "Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are opposition leaders. They continue to be opposition leaders because of our support in the parliament. The Congress party has to be very serious with regard to its approach."

Communist Party of India's (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas who has been deputed to attend the INDIA bloc meeting in New Delhi on Monday expressed serious concerns over the approach and conduct of the Congress party, alleging that top leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi, had accused the Left party of having an understanding with the BJP during the Kerala Assembly elections. "We have serious reservations concerning the approach, attitude and conduct of the Congress party. Now it's been three years since the inception of the INDIA bloc. We all came together to fight the BJP. But there is a murky situation that has happened in Kerala wherein people like Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi accused us of having some sort of an alliance with the BJP," Brittas told ANI.

He questioned, "If that is the charge and approach of the Congress, then what is the whole purpose of us sitting together?" Brittas added that the CPI(M) does not seek validation from Congress regarding its commitment to opposing the BJP. Brittas further said, "Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are opposition leaders. They continue to be opposition leaders because of our support in the parliament. The Congress party has to be very serious with regard to its approach."

Yesterday, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby had written to Congress president Kharge, seeking an explanation for remarks made by senior Congress leaders that suggested a political understanding between the CPI(M) and the BJP. In the letter, Baby said he had been informed by Congress general secretary KC Venugopal about the INDIA bloc meeting scheduled for June 8 and raised concerns over what he described as a "systematic campaign" by the Congress leadership in Keralam that alleged that the CPI(M) and the BJP had struck a deal.

He stated that Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Kharge himself, had repeatedly alleged during the election campaign that senior CPI(M) leader and then incumbent Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had reached an understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, senior leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are scheduled to meet in the national capital today. (ANI)