The United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Keralam is functioning under the influence of extremist ideologues, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary K. Surendran has said.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Surendran said that it was clear that the UDF government was under much pressure from “external forces”, which were influencing the government’s decision-making at various levels. The delay in implementing the PM SHRI project in the State was a clear example of the extremist forces at work, he added.

All Congress-ruled States in the country have implemented PM SHRI, and it is only in Kerala that the scheme’s administrative implementation was being blocked allegedly due to the pressure exerted by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Jamaat-e-Islami, he claimed.

‘Vande Mataram’ controversy

Mr. Surendran alleged that not just PM SHRI, all Central government schemes and initiatives were being opposed by the IUML and other fundamentalist forces in Keralam. While all Congress-ruled States honoured the national song Vande Mataram by giving its full rendition at the Independence Day functions, the V.D. Satheesan government did not even render two stanzas of the song. Does the Indian National Congress have a different policy for the State of Keralam, Mr. Surendran asked.

He said that for the past five years, Mr. Satheesan’s refrain had been that the BJP was helping the Communist Party of India [CPI(M)] bury the Exalogic case. Now that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has dug deep and found serious and startling revelations, Mr. Satheesan has nothing to say about the alleged “protection” given by Narendra Modi to Pinarayi Vijayan, he pointed out. The V.D.S-led UDF government has turned out to be a carbon copy of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, he added.

He said that the BJP’s stance was that Mr. Vijayan has no right to continue as the Leader of the Opposition. He pointed out that now that serious revelations have come up in the Exalogic case, it was noteworthy that none in the CPI(M) were out to defend T. Veena, daughter of Mr. Vijayan. This was not the case when the ED first raided Mr. Vijayan’s residence in Thiruvananthapuram, when even the party’s national leadership was on the streets in protest, Mr. Surendran pointed out.

Published - August 21, 2026 06:17 pm IST