Upset by the reduced margin the party secured in the just-concluded Vengara Assembly bypoll, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leadership has put up a brave face claiming the outcome was a political victory for the party.
The IUML State secretariat, which met here on Wednesday, said that the United Democratic Front had been able to counter the “dirty tricks of the ruling CPI(M) using the government machinery.” At a news conference, party State president Panakkad Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal and national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty said that the UDF had emerged victorious in all the byelections since the LDF came to power in Kerala. Besides, the results had largely reflected the anger brewing against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
However, party insiders said that the meeting witnessed heated discussions on the party nominee K.N.A. Khader securing just little more than 23,000 votes to retain the segment in the Muslim-majority Malappuram district. The victory margin of Mr. Kunhalikutty, who had vacated the seat to contest the Lok Sabha bypoll, was over 38,000 votes in the 2016 elections.
Several leaders opined that the selection of the candidate had alienated a section of the party workers at the grass-roots level while others flayed the party leadership for yielding to the pressure tactics of Mr. Khader, whose performance as two-time legislator earlier was not up to the mark. Besides, the party failed to cash in on the sentiment against the ruling LDF, many pointed out.
In the run-up to the selection process, names of party State general secretary K.P.A Majeed and Muslim Youth League (MYL) general secretary P.K. Firos had cropped up. Since both were holding organisational posts, the leadership chose Mr. Khader to contest the bypoll. During electioneering too, the party was far behind the well-oiled mechanism of the LDF. Only in the last lap of the campaign, Mr. Kunhalikutty was roped in to conduct roadshows in the constituency, party sources said
Meanwhile, the MYL State meeting reportedly blamed the IUML State leadership in the choice of candidate for the bypoll. However, MYL president Syed Munavvrali Shihab Thangal denied this.
