In a major political development, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has announced that its General Secretary PK Kunhalikutty, will resign as the Member of Parliament from the Malappuram constituency, and that he will be contesting in the upcoming Kerala Assembly election. “Kunhalikutty will quit so that the by-election to Malappuram Lok Sabha seat will be conducted along with the state Assembly elections,” IUML’s state General Secretary KPA Majeed told during a press conference on Wednesday.
The former state Industries Minister is considered the most powerful IUML leader in the state, which is an ally of the Opposition UDF. Highly-placed sources in the Muslim League told IANS that the decision to field Kunhalikutty in the Assembly elections had been taken by the party long back as it knows that his strategic flair was necessary for the Muslim League and the UDF.
The UDF had faced major criticism in the recent local body elections and voices of dissent appeared against the state Congress leadership.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already accused the Muslim League of taking over the mantle of the UDF and pushing the Congress to the background. The advent of Kunhalikutty in state politics is seen by many political analysts as a major move of the League to take prominence in UDF affairs.
However, the Congress leaders have welcomed the move, while its state chief Mullappally Ramachandran termed the move an internal decision of the IUML.
BJP state President K Surendran, however, termed the decision of Kunhalikutty to resign from the Lok Sabha and contest the state elections as "unfortunate"."Kunhalikutty and the Muslim League are making a mockery of democracy. He resigned from the assembly seat and contested Lok Sabha elections and when he found that there is nothing he can do at New Delhi, he is quietly resigning the Lok Sabha seat and coming to Kerala to contest the Assembly polls," he told the media. Kunhalikutty contested Lok Sabha from Malappuram constituency in 2017, while he was an MLA, as the seat fell vacant after the demise of IUML leader E Ahammed. Following this, he again contested to Lok Sabha in 2019.
Meanwhile, Surendran also claimed that the arrival of Kunhalikutty will not bring any solace to the UDF which is in a tough spot. He also added that the people of the state have seen through the UDF game plan and clearly knows that it will not be in a position to take on the Left Democratic Front.