A Sangh parivar veteran with close ties to the central leadership and the RSS has stunned the BJP in election-bound Kerala by hinting at a deal between his party and the CPM to deny him a ticket and ensure the victory of the state BJP chief in another constituency.

R. Balashankar, a member of the BJP central committee on training and former editor of RSS mouthpiece Organiser weekly, suggested that Kerala BJP president K. Surendran might have entered into the deal with the ruling CPM for the Konni seat from where the party chief is contesting.

In exchange, Balashankar indicated, the BJP state leadership has fielded weak candidates in Chengannur and Aranmula in south Kerala.

The ruling Left Front, led by the CPM, and the Opposition UDF, led by the Congress, are the principal players in Kerala. The BJP has so far managed to win only one seat in the 140-member Assembly but the party can play spoiler in some of the seats. Both the Congress and the CPM accuses each other of seeking the “transfer” of the BJP’s votes to defeat their opponents.

Surendran is contesting from Konni, in addition to his traditional seat in north Kerala, on the hope of milking his role as the spearhead of the Sabarimala temple agitation against the entry of women of child-bearing age. The Konni seat falls in Pathanamthitta district in south Kerala where the Sabarimala shrine is located.

A Sangh parivar insider for several decades, Balashankar was tipped to be the BJP candidate for his home constituency, Chengannur, in Alappuzha district. But the party fielded district president M.V. Gopakumar.

In an emotional outburst, the usually soft-spoken Balashankar told Mathrubhumi news channel on Tuesday that at this rate, the BJP wouldn’t be able to make its mark in Kerala even after 30 years.

“It is possible that there was a deal between the CPM and BJP behind this. The deal could be that BJP will ensure CPM victory in Chengannur and Aranmula in exchange of Konni,” said the former convener of the BJP’s national intellectual cell.

While all three are sitting seats of the CPM, the BJP is making a big pitch for Konni by fielding Surendran, who is also contesting from Manjeshwar in Kasaragod district.

Balashankar claimed complete support from the central leadership of the BJP for his candidature in Chengannur. “Amit Shahji and even Modiji were aware of my candidature.”

Surendran refused to get drawn into the issues raised by Balashankar. “I didn’t know if he had tried to contest. But his allegations do not deserve any kind of reaction,” he told reporters.

The CPM’s acting state secretary A. Vijayaraghavan dismissed Balashankar’s suggestion of a “deal” with the BJP. “The Kerala government is the one that adopted a very consistent position against the BJP. It is the CPM that have always had face-offs with the BJP. There is no need to raise such allegations against us,” he said.