Twist in the tales is quite common it's, however, interesting when the twist is figuratively seen in action! In Tamil Nadu, the two Communist parties - CPI-M and CPI - are in a political alliance with Congress. In Kerala, however, they are the main political rivals. The permutation and combination of alliance politics are throwing up challenges for both.

While posters of Kanyakumari Lok Sabha candidate Vijay Vasanthakumar and Nagercoil Assembly candidates have their posters with the photographs of a beaming Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury in Tamil Nadu, just a few kilometres away at the Kaliyakkavilai RTO check post inside Kerala the scene is different. Meanwhile in Kerala, the Left and the Congress are engaged in a fierce political battle.

BJP leader and party candidate from Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat Pon Radhakrishnan while speaking to IANS said, "This is the duplicity of these parties, both CPI-M and CPI are national parties and so is the Congress. Across the border they are fighting against each other but here they are all friends, ideology doesn't matter."

Interestingly, the Communist parties have also conducted public campaigns for the Congress candidate Vijay Vasanthakumar for the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat.

M Mariyappan, CPI-M local secretary at Kaliyakkavilai in Tamil Nadu told IANS said, "We are fighting against the fasict government of Narendra Modi and the BJP and all secular democratic parties will have to weed this government out."

When asked about the fight against the Congress just step away in Kerala, Mariappan said, "In Kerala, the CPI-M is fighting against the Congress, and BJP is not a force to reckon with. We want to defeat the Congress in Kerala but we have aligned with the DMK in Tamil Nadu and Congress is part of that alliance." According to political commentators, the CPI-M leaders do not have a proper answer to this, but both parties want to somehow stay afloat in power.

Even though the Palakkad is in Kerala, there is a strong fight between the AIADMK-BJP and the DMK-Congress-CPI-CPM alliance candidate. But, within the Kerala border, the CPI-M is engaged in a bitter battle with Congress.

CPI(M)-Congress alliance in West Bengal

The reports suggest that in 2016, even though the two parties were part of different alliances, they didn't contest against each other except in the Domkal constituency. This time around, CPI(M) and Congress have formed a formal alliance against Mamta Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

According to the data of the Election Commission of India, despite being a part of different alliances, CPI(M) and Congress gained about 32.5 per cent votes in 2016. Their opponent, Trinamool, had a vote share of 45.6 per cent.

This time, though, it is guesstimated that while the current alliance may not hurt AITC in seat tally, but it may make a major impact on the overall vote share.

(With Inputs from IANS)