Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 11 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Sunday said the CPI-M and the BJP have a common agenda of reducing the Congress's seats in the next Lok Sabha.

"The BJP wants the Congress seats from Kerala in the next Lok Sabha to be reduced and the CPI-M wants as many seats as possible. Both parties are hand in glove when it comes to protests in our state," said Chandy.

He was responding to a question on the arrival of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda to 'inaugurate' the indefinite siege to the secretariat by the Left opposition here beginning Monday.

For by-elections to Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka Aug 21, the BJP has withdrawn its candidates in favour of Gowda's party, the Janata Dal (Secular), which is an ally of the Left opposition in that state.

The Left opposition's indefinite siege of the secretariat will see more than 75,000 Left opposition volunteers preventing anybody from entering the seat of the Kerala government.

The Left action comes in the wake of the solar scam, which pertains to financial cheating of several people by Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radkahrishnan who offered clients solar energy solutions at huge discounts -- the accused allegedly used their clout in the CM’s office for duping their clients of large sums.