Wayanad: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday accused Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of contesting the Wayanad by-election with the backing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, media reports said.

He challenged the Congress to publicly declare that it does not seek support from the organization, which is widely viewed as a Muslim fundamentalist group, reported Economic Times.

This statement is a direct confrontation between Vijayan’s CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Congress, its ally in the INDIA bloc.

Sathyan Mokeri of the CPI is running against Gandhi Vadra.

The Congress had not responded to the accusation by the time of the report’s publication.

Vijayan’s comments come at a time when the Congress is deliberately downplaying the involvement of its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), in Wayanad to avoid a repeat of the BJP’s attacks during Rahul Gandhi's previous campaign in the region.

"The mask of the secular face of the Congress has completely come off during this Wayanad by-election. Priyanka Gandhi is contesting with the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami . What is the Congress position on it?" Vijayan, also a member of the CPI (M) polit bureau, said in a post on Facebook.

"Our nation is not unfamiliar with Jamaat-e-Islami. Does that organisation's ideology align with the principles of democracy? Jamaat-e-Islami does not give importance to the nation and democracy."

Targeting the Congress, the CM further said, "Shouldn't those who stand by secularism strongly oppose all kinds of communalism? Is the Congress able to do that? It is by enduring some 'sacrifices' even the likes of Muslim League are now standing with this Congress-Jamaat-e-Islami alliance. Can the Congress state that it does not need the votes of Jamaat-e-Islami? To have that courage of conviction, the responsible leaders of the Congress must recollect how EMS (late EM Shankaran Namboodiripad, former CPI (M) chief) had proclaimed during the Thalassery by-election that 'we don't want the votes of RSS'. Can the Congress take such a stand?"