THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the announcement of the election date, the LDF and UDF are intensifying their campaign accusing each other of colluding with the BJP. The fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act also changed the course of the campaign.

LDF convenor EP Jayarajan's praise for BJP, BJP's delay to field a candidate in Kollam against NK Premachandran, Rahul Gandhi contesting against LDF in Wayanad and KC Venugopal in Alappuzha, Left parties' abstention from INDIA front rally in Mumbai to mark the end of Rahul's Nyay Yatra - so many snarky campaign weapons.

Fronts vying to curry favour with religious minorities in the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act are questioning each other's sincerity. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Rahul Gandhi of not saying a single word against the Citizenship Amendment Act notification and that Congress MPs from Kerala were having lunch at Sonia Gandhi's residence when the Act was being passed in Parliament. Alleging that this is a lie by Pinarayi to hide his BJP ties, Congress leaders are portraying the non-withdrawal of many of the cases filed in connection with the 2019 protests in Kerala against the Citizenship Act as the government's double standards.

EP's resort relationship

UDF is spreading LDF convener EP Jayarajan's remark that the main contest in the parliamentary elections in Kerala is between the LDF and the BJP, and that BJP has the best candidates, including in Thiruvananthapuram, like wildfire. EP's remark that BJP would come second in many constituencies also put LDF in crisis. Later, when BJP state president K Surendran arrived with congratulations, EP got into trouble. Congress alleges that EP is an NDA convener too.

Sensing the danger, the Chief Minister and the CPM state secretary corrected EP, but the fire has not been extinguished. Another allegation of UDF is that there is a business relationship between the EP and the Thiruvananthapuram candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar. It is alleged that EP's family's Vaidekam Resort in Kannur Morazha was handed over to Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Niramaya Retreat. EP and Rajeev Chandrasekhar have denied business links. Even as Premachandran's and Mukesh's campaigns have entered the third phase in Kollam, BJP has not decided on a candidate. LDF centres are interpreting this as a continuation of NK Premachandran's participation in Modi's reception.