Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress-led UDF’s convenor, MM Hassan on Thursday said the victory of actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi at Trissur was the result of a secret deal between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the BJP.
“We all heard about the meeting between Left convenor and veteran CPI(M) leader EP Jayarajan and BJP’s Kerala incharge Prakash Javadekar. “This resulted in the Trissur win and this cannot be seen as the victory of the BJP, because Vijayan handed the Trissur seat to the BJP on a gold platter,” said Hassan.
Actor Suresh Gopi won the seat by a margin of over 72,000 votes defeating two of the strongest opponents – local CPI veteran, a former State Minister and two-time former legislator VS Sunil Kumar and Congress leader and sitting MP from Vadakara, K Muraleedharan who was moved to Trissur.
Hassan’s allegation of the deal between CM Vijayan and the BJP comes close on the heels of a revelation made by middleman TG Nandakumar, who was instrumental in arranging the meeting between Jayarajan and Javadekar.
Nandakumar alleged that the meeting took place on how best the CPI(M) could help Suresh Gopi in Trissur. For long the Congress leadership in Kerala has been alleging that CM Vijayan has a deal with the BJP which will help him tide over the few cases that are hanging fire over him and his daughter.
Leader of Opposition, VD Satheesan said while Vijayan was attacking Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the poll campaigns, he never uttered a word against PM Modi. “When he was doing that we had raised suspicions that there appears to be a deal between Vijayan and the BJP and now with Suresh Gopi winning, all what we said has come true,” said Satheesan.
