Ahead of the crucial meeting of the INDIA bloc in New Delhi on Monday, the CPI(M) has sought a clarification from the Congress over its allegations of a “nexus between the Left and the BJP” in Keralam.According to sources, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby will skip tomorrow’s meeting and John Brittas, Rajya Sabha MP from the party, will fill in for him. In a letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on June 5, Baby had demanded a clarification on Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s repeated attacks on the CPI(M) during the Keralam assembly polls.“I have been informed by KC Venugopal about the meeting of the INDIA bloc parties to be held on June 8. In this connection, I would like to cite a recent political development that occurred during the Assembly elections. There was a systematic campaign by the Congress leadership during the Kerala elections claiming that the CPI(M) and the BJP have struck a deal,” read his letter.”Further, it was alleged that CPI(M)’s senior leader, member of the Politburo and then CM comrade Pinarayi Vijayan had also struck a deal with Modi. The question was posed, ‘Otherwise, why is it that he has not been interrogated or arrested by the ED?’” the letter added. The letter comes amid an ongoing ED probe against Vijayan in a graft case.The INDIA bloc meeting is being closely watched because it is the first meeting of the grouping since December 2023. Since then, the INDIA bloc has lost the Lok Sabha elections and won just two of the 14 state elections that followed.While the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Samajwadi Party are expected to attend, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has announced that it would not be attending the meeting, calling the Congress’s decision to tie up with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) a “betrayal”.In March, during the Parliament’s Budget Session, CPI(M)’s John Brittas and CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar had expressed their objections to Rahul’s speech at a Congress function in Kerala attacking Vijayan since they felt that it was a negation of the fundamental politics of the bloc.The two MPs had then argued that the Left parties were an integral part of the INDIA bloc and that such formulations by a Congress national leader could invariably weaken its coherence.