CPI (M) politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday lashed out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi over his criticism of the Left.

Gandhi who is in Kerala since Tuesday to kick off Congress-led UDF’s election campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls has said that “leftist ideology is obsolete”.

He also added that the Left enjoys a close association with the bar owners and will remove the ban on non-five-star bars in the state."CPI(M)'s policy is not something that should be decided by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi,” said Pinarayi.

“The Antony government had banned arrack in the state. The LDF government that was voted to power after that did not remove the prohibition,” he added refuting allegations on the alcohol issue.

He further added that the Congress's political game had failed as it will not get any more voters due to its stance.

Earlier on February 2,  KPCC chief  VM Sudheeran had alleged that the Left conspired with the solar panel scam accused Saritha Nair against the State government and even some of the bar owners were also part of the conspiracy.

Interestingly, as both the CPI (M) and Congress are at loggerheads with each others, there are rumors that there might be an alliance in West Bengal.