A group of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) workers here staged a demonstration outside the party office here and burnt the effigy of party leader and Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed on Wednesday in protest against the nomination of some district functionaries of the party.
Nearly 40 protestors took out a march to the IUML district office here around 11.30 a.m. carrying the effigy of Mr. Ahamed. They squabbled with police personnel when the latter stopped them near the party office. The protesters then burnt Mr. Ahamed in effigy and staged a sit-in for some time shouting slogans against the Minister, who hails from this town.
The protest was against the nomination of the district office-bearers of the party, including incumbent V.K. Abdul Khader Moulavi as president and V.P. Vampan as treasurer. They are members of the party unit in Azhikkode. The agitators said that no organisational election had been held in the Azhikkode unit of the party, and yet, the two leaders managed to be nominated in the district council of the party.
The protest is seen as a sequel to the disruption of the IUML district council meeting held here in the presence of the State leaders of the party on March 25. Then, some party workers had barged into the venue and questioned the presence of some party leaders, including Mr. Moulavi and Mr. Vampan. As the meeting to elect the new district office-bearers of the party had been marred by the protest, the party State president Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal had been asked to nominate the new district council. The new party district council was announced on June 19.
