“We are a bigger party than the Communist Party of India (Marxist) now,” guffawed PK Kunhalikutty, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and the UDF candidate in the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. Speaking to the media on Thursday while the votes for the Lok Sabha elections are being counted, Kunhalikutty is a happy man.
At 12.30 pm, UDF's PK Kunhalikutty is leading by 1.71 lakh votes against LDF's VP Sanu in the Malappuram constituency. At the same time, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is also leading in 19 out of the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, even as the United Progress Alliance is majorly trailing behind the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the centre.
“We are not looking at the results in North India at the moment but as far as Kerala is concerned, we are very happy,” said Kunhalikutty, smiling.
The IUML leader went on to point out that the LDF government’s stand in the Sabarimala issue has had a huge impact on them. “We did not support the LDF on their stand on the Sabarimala issue. We will not accept any decisions that hurt religious sentiments,” said Kunhalikutty, speaking to the media.
The veteran leader also went on to take a dig at the CPI(M) by stating that they are a much bigger party than the CPI(M) at the moment, given that they are likely to win more seats in this year’s Lok Sabha elections than the CPI(M). “But we are all in an alliance in Tamil Nadu. So if CPI(M) manages to win any seats there, then we can say that they managed to win with the help of the IUML and the Congress,” quipped Kunhalikutty.
Kunhalikutty has been representing the constituency since a bye-election in 2017, when he won from all the seven Assembly segments under Malappuram. He has earlier served as minister in various UDF governments. He has also been the national general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League since 2007.