Union Minister invites Pinarayi Vijayan to NDA; unconstitutional and against federal system, responds MV Govindan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM state secretary M.V. Govindan criticised Union Minister Athawale Ramdas Bandu for inviting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to the NDA. M.V. Govindan said that Athawale's statement is against democratic values. "The Union Minister's statement is unconstitutional and against the federal system. Athawale does not know what Kerala is," he criticised.

Govindan said that the minister and the MLA attended the Jamaat platform without knowing that it was a platform of Jamaat-e-Islami. "There are talks that the CPM is behind the NSS-SNDP unity. We will not pay attention to that. The CPM's stance is that all sections of people should go together," MV Govindan clarified.

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale had invited Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to the NDA. "Pinarayi should stand with the NDA in the upcoming elections. If he stands with the NDA, there will be a continued government," Athavale said in Kannur. Athavale had claimed that joining the NDA would lead to significant central funding and major development packages for Kerala from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.