Congress ally and Kerala MP lands in a soup over ‘surprise’ lunch with PM in Parliament

The RSP is an ally of the Congress in Kerala while it sides with the Left in West Bengal. All three parties – the CPI(M), RSP and Congress – are a part of the Opposition INDIA bloc.

On Tuesday, CPI(M) trade union wing Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) held a march in Kollam demanding Premachandran’s resignation over the issue, with the lunch providing fresh fodder for the CPI(M) and Congress’s constant barbs at each other in Kerala, particularly over the BJP.

Sources said that the Kollam MP was one of eight parliamentarians — the other seven including 4 from the BJP; 1 from the TDP that is considering an alliance with the BJP; 1 of the BSP, that is equidistant from both the NDA and INDIA; and 1 of the BJD, which is friendly towards the BJP — who had received a call around 2.30 pm on February 7 from PM Modi, telling them: “Chaliye, aapko ek punishment dena hai (Let’s go, I have to deliver you a punishment today).”

Premachandran’s RSP was earlier part of the CPI(M)-led LDF and he won twice from Kollam under its banner, before shifting allegiance to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He retained the seat as a UDF candidate in the 2019 elections.

CPI(M) Central Committee member and LDF convener E P Jayarajan said Premachandran’s attendance at the lunch with Modi was proof of the UDF-BJP links. “The Kollam MP only extends support to those who have destroyed the secular fabric of India. He has joined hands with those who have destroyed mosques and madrasas in Uttarakhand,” he said, referring to the recent demolition of a mosque and madrasa in the state, leading to violence. Elamaram Kareem, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, accused the PM of deliberately “arranging the lunch” and questioned why Premachandran was the only INDIA bloc MP invited. “What is his (Premachandran) eligibility to attend the lunch? Both the LDF and UDF speak against the BJP in Kerala. In such a scenario, a UDF MP sharing a table with Modi is a political mistake,” he said, suggesting that the BJP’s claim that it would win a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala could be an allusion to Kollam.

Premachandran has also come under attack from the Indian National League, the lone Muslim outfit in the LDF, with its general secretary Kassim Irikkur questioning him breaking bread with the Hindutva-agenda party. “Premachandran’s agenda is to saffronise the UDF, and he was there to set the stage for an unholy alliance between the Congress and BJP,” Irikkur said.

Defending the lunch, the RSP leader has said the invitation was “totally unexpected” and came from the PM himself. “It was cordial, casual and did not involve politics. The CPI(M) is trying to project me as a Sangh Parivar man as it is eyeing the minority votes in the upcoming elections (which otherwise go to the Congress). I am sure this campaign will backfire,” Premachandran said.

The Kollam MP also reminded the CPI(M) that Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan hosted a dinner for Union minister Nitin Gadkari in Thiruvananthapuram recently. “Will they brand Vijayan as a Sangh Parivar agent over that dinner?” he questioned.

He went on to add that the lunch meeting at the Parliament canteen was hardly a secret, with other MPs nearby. “A CPI(M) MP from Tamil Nadu, P R Natarajan, even asked Modi for a photo, to which the PM agreed. Will the CPI(M) find fault in that too?” Premachandran said.

The RSP MP also pointed out that right after the lunch, he had moved a substitute resolution against the White Paper on the Indian economy presented by the government. “I clearly spoke against the Modi government and its policies on minorities,” Premachandran said, adding that Kareem should rather explain why he chose to attend a state conference of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (an RSS affiliate) in Palakkad instead of attending Parliament on such a crucial day.

Incidentally, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well, the CPI(M) in its campaign against Premachandran in Muslim-dominated areas had alleged that he would shift to the BJP after winning.

Premachandran’s party as well as the Congress have lent their support to the Kollam MP on the issue. Senior RSP leader Shibu Baby John also referred to Kareem “preferring the BMS programme over Parliament”.

Leader of the Opposition and Congress Paravur MLA V D Satheesan accused the CPI(M) of trying to communally polarise the state. “Both the BJP and CPI(M) are playing the communal card in the state. What is wrong with an MP attending a PM’s lunch? Even as we oppose the state government, we attend meetings convened by Vijayan,” he said.