In Kerala, why a business deal between a CPM leader’s family and Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s firm is back in focus

A leading Left leader in Kerala, his praise for the candidates BJP has fielded, and a year-old business transaction between his family and a Union Minister. These are the components of the latest firestorm in Kerala’s political cauldron.

On Sunday, CPI(M) central committee member and ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener E P Jayarajan told reporters in Kannur, “In all constituencies, the BJP has fielded good candidates. In Thiruvananthapuram, they have a Union Minister (Rajeev Chandrasekhar), in Attingal they have Union Minister V Muraleedharan, in Thrissur they have Suresh Gopi. In many other constituencies, the BJP has prominent candidates. The BJP will come second in many constituencies and the fight in Kerala is between the CPI(M) and the BJP.”

But in a state where the Left and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are the main political rivals and the BJP has a negligible electoral footprint, public espousals about fighting the BJP and the RSS are almost a permanent poll plank for both the established political fronts as they want to shore up minority support. Jumping on Jayarajan’s comments, the Congress highlighted how the Left leader’s wife and son own shares in an Ayurvedic spa that last year handed over operations to a hospitality venture backed by Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s private equity firm. This, the Congress has alleged, places a question mark on the Left’s commitment to fighting the BJP.

With the Congress finding a line of attack against the Left as the BJP welcomed Jayarajan’s comments, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan both clarified that the fight in Kerala was primarily between the CPI(M) and the Congress. Jayarajan, meanwhile, said his comments were