Even as Kerala’s Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-headed lDF have started campaigning for the April 12 lok Sabha by-election in Malappuram constituency, the BJP on Monday accused Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of entering into a secret pact with UDF’s Muslim league candidate PK Kunhalikutty to ensure the latter’s victory through a “friendly match” between the two sides.
State BJP general secretaries AN Radhakrishnan and MT Ramesh on Monday alleged that Pinarayi had held a secret meeting with Kunhalikutty, Muslim league’s national general secretary and former Minister, at the house of a common friend at Valanchery in Malappuram district on March 18 to decide on such a friendly match. The by-election was necessitated by the death of former Union Minister E Ahamed.
Radhakrishnan said in Thrissur that Pinarayi had assured Kunhalikutty at this meeting that Malappuram would see only a friendly contest between the left and the UDF while Ramesh alleged that the decision to field a comparatively weak candidate, DYFI leader MB Faisal, for the CPI(M) was taken at this meeting.
The BJP’s allegation came just when the CPI(M) and the Congress were busy accusing each other for forging secret understanding with the BJP. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the left and the BJP would join hands to ensure that Kunhalikutty did not win by a huge margin.
As the heat of by-poll campaign stated to rise, the BJP came under heavy criticism from Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of the mighty SNDP Yogam and one of the founding leaders of the BDJS, the major ally of the BJP in Kerala. “The sun would rise in the west if the BJP wins in the Malappuram by-election,” he said.
Vellappally alleged that the BJP was not a trustworthy party and that it had decided N Sreeprakash as its candidate for the Malappuram by-election without discussing with the allies. However, the BJP leadership said that it was its prerogative to decide its candidate but it had informed all its allies about the decision.
At the same time, both the UDF and lDF began campaigning for the by-election on Monday. Muslim league candidate Kunhalikutty’s campaign was kick-started with a grand election convention of the UDF while CPI(M) nominee Faisal started his campaign with a visit to Elamkulam Mana, the house where late Marxist Guru EMS Namboothiripad was born.
Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Opposition leader Chennithala and other Congress leaders and top functionaries of the Muslim league participated in the UDF convention. Earlier in the day, Kunhalikutty filed his nomination before the Malappuram District Collector. “Victory is certain. The winning margin will also go up,” said Kunhalikutty after filing the papers.
Muslim league’s E Ahmed had won the Malappuram constituency in the 2009 and 2014 lok Sabha elections. His winning margin in 2009 was 1,15,597 votes while he increased the margin to 1,94,739 votes in the 2014 election. Sreeprakash was the BJP candidate in 2014 also and he had polled 64,705 votes then.