THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday accused the ruling LDF led by CPI-M of stoking communalism in Kerala.

"LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan is trying to fan communalism in the state by bringing up unnecessary issues in the run-up to the assembly elections. The Left is playing with fire and creating a communal divide in society for votes."

Chennithala was responding to CPM state secretary Vijayaraghavan's statement that Congress leaders in the southern state were becoming subservient to the Indian Union Muslim League.

Chennithala said that the IUML was the second largest constituent in the opposition UDF and his party's discussions with the League was not a new phenomenon.

"The same CPM is in a political alliance with the Muslim League in Tamil Nadu. The Left party has always shown political duplicity for many years. CPM leaders, including Vijayaraghavan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should understand that they remain straight in their political approach."

The opposition leader also lashed out at the CPM over the killing of IUML worker Mohammed Sameer at Pandikaadavu in Malappuram and said that the CPM was "deliberately trying to create an atmosphere of political violence and communal divide" in the state.

"The planned killing was deliberate and the CPM cadres had been targeting Sameer and other IUML cadres ever since the local body polls in which the Left got a drubbing in Malappuram," Chennithala claimed.