Muslim league, the second biggest constituent of Kerala’s ruling UDF, on Thursday called for immediate measures from the part of front leader Congress to end the crisis that had gripped the coalition. The party’s call was in response to a scathing attack State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala had carried out against it on June 29.
After a meeting of the party secretariat in Kozhikode on Thursday, Muslim league’s national general secretary ET Mohammed Basheer said that the intense group war (between factions led by Chennithala and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy) had seriously affected the front’s functioning and that the Congress high command should intervene to put an end to this.
“The UDF is in a situation where functioning has become difficult. The front cannot go ahead effectively unless all the problems are solved. We have information that the Congress high command is discussing the problems in Kerala. We have decided to wait till a decision comes from there,” Basheer said.
Several participants at the meeting had opined that the party should reconsider continuing in the UDF by pocketing insults meted out by Congress leaders. The Muslim league secretariat had met to discuss issues related to its relationship with the Congress in the context of last Saturday’s attack against it by Chennithala.
Under the garb of quoting former KPCC chief CK Govindan Nair (CKG), Chennithala had said in Kozhikode that succumbing to pressures of communal and community organisations — like the Muslim league — would become a liability for the Congress. He had also referred to the CKG theory that the Muslim league would play pressure tactics to get more benefits from Congress.
According to the Muslim league, things have reached a stage where that party and the Congress have to think of whether the alliance should continue. Basheer said that going ahead with the alliance in the present situation was difficult. The UDF had cancelled a bilateral meeting between the Congress and the league scheduled for Tuesday following the latter’s withdrawal.
Stating that the faction war in the Congress was a very crucial matter as far as the league was concerned, Basheer said that his party could not take the continuing attacks from the Congress anymore. “Finding a lasting solution to this problem is absolutely necessary for the Muslim league,” he said.
“There is difficulty in taking the UDF’s works ahead. The problems in the UDF are working as a hindrance in taking the message of the good deeds of the Chandy Government to the people. The front cannot go ahead without solving all the problems being faced by the major and minor constituents of the coalition,” Basheer said.
The continuance of the league, with 20 MlAs in the 140-member Assembly, in the coalition is crucial for the survival of the Chandy regime which has the backing of only 73 MlAs including the Speaker. The Congress, leader of the front, has only 39 seats while the Opposition lDF has 67 members in the House.