THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the central investigation agencies tightening the knot by taking the gold smuggling and life mission cases to new dimensions ahead of the assembly polls, the left leadership in Kerala has come under immense pressure. The election scene in the state has heated up in the candidate selection stage itself with the LDF beginning to counter-attack by accusing Congress and BJP of forming an alliance in order to politically target the government. In addition to the affidavit controversy against the Chief Minister and other ministers, the CPM found itself on the defensive on Saturday after the Customs served a notice to former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's wife Vinodini for allegedly using an iPhone bought by Santhosh Eapen.

CPM alleged that the affidavit controversy was being used by the BJP-led central government to politically target the state government ahead of the election. According to the CPM, a secret statement given by an accused three months ago has been brought up suddenly in order to tarnish the image of the government ahead of the election. The left parties also led a march towards the Customs offices against this move. Both the CPM and CPI leaderships went on to criticise the Customs. In reply, the Customs on Saturday served a notice to Vinodini asking her to appear for questioning. This was not expected by the left leadership. As the Customs has come up with digital evidence against Vinodini, the left leadership cannot simply dismiss it by alleging that it is fabricated. The CPM doubts whether the moves of the agencies can fuel the growth of the BJP in the state. It has decided to intensify its campaign by alleging that UDF has formed an alliance with BJP. However, the moves of the central agencies have put the LDF under extreme pressure.

Political game by LDF: UDF

On the other hand, the UDF has alleged that the ED case, the affidavit controversy and Swapna's secret statements were brought up ahead of the election so that the LDF can use them as its campaign tools. The UDF also accused the BJP of helping the LDF. However, the UDF leadership decided to use the CM's alleged link in the dollar smuggling case as its main campaign weapon.
However, it also feels that these controversies, which did not have any effect in the local body elections, may only serve to boost the image of the CPM and the Chief Minister.