He said the chief minister was desperately trying to divert the public's attention from the issues plaguing the state, including the fuel cess.

He said the chief minister was desperately trying to divert the public's attention from the issues plaguing the state, including the fuel cess.

He said the chief minister was desperately trying to divert the public's attention from the issues plaguing the state, including the fuel cess.

Malappuram: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) National General Secretary P K Kunhalikutty termed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's allegations against the UDF with regard to the RSS-Jamaat-e-Islami Hind discussions strange.

Talking to reporters in Malappuram on Tuesday, he said the chief minister was desperately trying to divert the public's attention from the issues plaguing the state, including the fuel cess.

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"He (Pinarayi) thinks igniting such controversies will soon spread like wildfire and thereby throw people off the real issues," said Kunhalikutty.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan rubbished the chief minister's allegation as nonsense and said the Jamaat-e-Islami has been the companion of the CPM for 42 years. Speaking to the media at Calicut University, Satheesan asked: "How is the UDF in the wrong if some Muslim organisations, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, hold talks with the RSS in Delhi? The chief minister's allegations undermine his position." 

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Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday dragged the IUML and the Congress into the controversy over the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), a conservative Islamic organisation, holding secret talks with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Pinarayi hinted that the two mainstream parties of the United Democratic Front (UDF) could have had a role in the JIH's secret parley with the RSS.

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The allegation came hours after Jamaat-e-Islami Hind accused the chief minister of spreading Islamophobia.

Speaking at the inauguration of the CPM's statewide campaign 'People's Resistance Yatra' at Kumbla in Kasaragod, he asked, "Did the idea of talk come from the Welfare Party or the trio of the Congress-League-Welfare Party?". The UDF should make clear if JIH had a role in the talks with the RSS, he said.

The chief minister, earlier, accused the Jamaat-e-Islami of holding talks with the RSS against the backdrop of the frequent attacks on Muslims and Christians in the country. What does the JIH have to talk to the RSS and for whom, asked the chief minister. "Not for the minorities. The people, whether they are minorities or from the majority community, know the communalism of the RSS," he said.