Kochi, Sept 19: The tussle between Congress and the Marxist parties, who are heading rival fronts in Kerala, in the coming byelection to the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency, was a 'misnomer' and 'fraud', Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy today said. At the national level the CPI(M) and the Congress have a common manifesto to support Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to ensure the ouster of the BJP. Here, the two parties are in different fronts and that itself makes the contest more of a 'deception', Rudy told a meet-the-press programme here.

Rudy said BJP was fighting a kind of 'parochial political untouchability' being pursued by politicians, especially those belonging to congress and the CPI(M). Despite having a 'brilliant' human resource, Kerala had not succeeded in attracting investments like its neighbours-- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Tourism was an area in which the state had very good prospects, he said, adding the government was pursuing restrictive reform policy.

The minister will be addressing two elections meetings tonight. Bureau Report