V D Satheesan, Kunhalikutty pressured SDPI to withdraw in Manjeshwar: BJP’s K Surendran
He further alleged that pressure was applied using Muslim organisations, adding that none of this would have any impact in Manjeshwar.
He further alleged that pressure was applied using Muslim organisations, adding that none of this would have any impact in Manjeshwar.
He further alleged that pressure was applied using Muslim organisations, adding that none of this would have any impact in Manjeshwar.
Kasaragod: BJP leader and Manjeshwar candidate K Surendran said SDPI candidate withdrew from the election under pressure from the United Democratic Front (UDF) and religious organisations.
Speaking to reporters in Badiadka panchayat on Thursday, he alleged that Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty had intervened in the matter.
SDPI candidate Ashraf K M, a namesake of UDF candidate and MLA A K M Ashraf, withdrew his nomination papers on Thursday. “But Satheesan lacks the spine to openly say that he does not want SDPI votes,” Surendran said.
He further alleged that pressure was applied using Muslim organisations, adding that none of this would have any impact in Manjeshwar. “No one can stop the BJP’s victory here,” said K Surendran, who lost in Manjeshwar in 2011, 2016 and 2021, two of them by narrow margins.
The SDPI claimed it has around 6,000 to 7,000 votes in Manjeshwar. The party’s state president, C P Abdul Latheef, said in Kasaragod that Ashraf was asked to withdraw his nomination respecting public sentiment and based on appeals from various religious and cultural organisations, as well as the Muslim Coordination Committee, an umbrella body of major Muslim organisations.
He said UDF leaders had also reached out to him. “But I told them that if the concern is a BJP victory, then we should be discussing the 11 Assembly segments where the BJP came first in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and another 10 where it finished second or a close third. If the concern is your front losing in Manjeshwar, we are not responsible for that,” Abdul Latheef said. “Yet, respecting public sentiment, we withdrew from the election,” he added.
Though the contest is directly between Muslim League's A K M Ashraf and BJP's Surendran, the LDF plays a key role in defining the contours of the contest as 75% of its voters are Muslims. The LDF has fielded CPM district secretariat member K R Jayananda as its candidate.