Sneaky IUML-SDPI meeting stirs public slugfest in Ponnani

Malappuram: A secret meeting between the Indian Union Muslim League leaders and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) top brass is turning out to be a talking point ahead of the Lok Sabha to the Ponnani constituency.

The reported meeting between the IUML and the SDPI took place at a KTDC-run hotel at Kondotty.

UDF candidates P K Kunhalikutty (Malappuram) and ET Mohammed Basheer (Ponnani) of the IUML reportedly met SDPI state president P Abdul Majeed Faizy and Popular Front of India (PFI) state president Nasarudheen Elamaram.

The IUML and the SDPI were seen as political adversaries and the LDF was keen to point an accusing finger.

LDF candidate and Nilambur MLA PV Anwar termed the meeting as a clear indication of the agreement between the two parties in the upcoming election. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, too, did not mince words.

There had been secret pacts between the IUML and SDPI for long and it has come to light now, he said.

“This was the same stance of the IUML in the last election also. The UDF is not ready to learn from previous experiences. The IUML had helped the SDPI during its formation stage,” the chief minister said.

Pinarayi also said when the IUML was in power, important cases involving SDPI workers were withdrawn.

“They are saying that they did not hold any discussion. Then, why did they gather there? The LDF will not compromise on communalism of neither the majority nor the minority. Never please any communalists for some votes” he told media in Thodupuzha.

IUML, SDPI versions

Kunhalikutty said that he was waiting for Basheer at the hotel when the SDPI and PFI leaders reached there.

Basheer also dismissed the allegations of a secret meeting and told media that it was foolish to allege that a secret meeting was held at a crowded popular hotel.

Majeed Faisy said the meeting with the IUML leaders was not planned.

“It is true that we met each other in that hotel. But that was not planned and the talks were also very casual. There was no discussion connected to the candidates in Ponnani. We talked in general about the issues in the society as well as the politics, as anybody known to each other would talk in public. There is nothing like secret pact or meeting ,” he said.

SDPI candidate

The SDPI leaders pointed out that its candidate for Ponnani advocate KC Naseer's name would be announced on Saturday once the central leadership gives a go-ahead.

Naseer was the lawyer who coordinated the Hadiya case. He came third in the Vengara Assembly bypoll in 2017 by garnering 8,648 votes. IUML's KNA Khader defeated CPM's P P Basheer in the polls.

Naseer came third relegating the BJP to the fourth place.

The SDPI's contention is that it was fielding a strong candidate against sitting MP E T Mohammed Basheer in Ponnani.

Previous polls

In the assembly polls held in 2016, the UDF got only a slender majority of 5,986 votes from the Ponnani Lok Sabha segment.

The SDPI apparently made inroads into the IUML vote bank by garnering more than 26,000 votes.

Cong-IUML tussle

The Congress-IUML tussle in Malappuram is a key cause of concern for the latter.

The Congress local leaders' antipathy towards Basheer is also likely to make things worse for him in Ponnani.

Basheer is seen as a hardcore conservative in the IUML, unlike Kunhalikutty and Samadani.

Recently, KPCC chief Mullappally Ramachandran and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala held a meeting of Malappuram District Congress Committee (DCC) leaders following a complaint by IUML leaders that the local Congress leadership is betraying the UDF cause.

On Wednesday, the IUML local leaders had threatened to blockade Kunjimohammed Haji, Congress leader and UDF assembly constituency chairman, charging him with meeting Anwar.

There had been open alliances between the CPM and the Congress in local body polls in Malappuram district to defeat the IUML in the past.

The LS scenario

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, SDPI's Ikramul Haq got 26,640 votes, slightly more than the margin of Basheer – 25,410.

Ponnani includes Tirurangadi, Tanur, Tirur, Kottakkal, Thavanur and Ponnani Assembly segments in Malappuram district and Thrithala in Palakkad district.

The UDF won in – Tirurangadi (Abdu Rabb), Tirur (C Mammutty), Kottakkal (Abid Hussain Thangal), and Thrithala (V T Balram), whereas the LDF could get three seats – Tanur (V Abdurahiman), Thavanur (K T Jaleel) and Ponnani (P Sreeramakrishnan).

Going by the share of votes in assembly segments, the UDF has only a narrow edge over the latter - 4,38,993 against LDF's 4,37,922. That is a meagre 1,071 votes.

So any small tilt would upset the IUML's self-proclaimed bastion.

The SDPI could garner more than 26,000 votes in the last LS polls and its base has only widened in Ponnani now.

Anvar's profile as a former Congress leader and his 'connections' with that party would further affect the chances of Basheer.

Perhaps, that is why the secret IUML-SDPI meeting has triggered a row.