KOZHIKODE: Though the rift between Congress local leaders and Mani C Kappan-led Nationalist Congress Kerala (NCK) over the Elathur seat has been resolved, UDF candidate Sulfikar Mayoori cannot sit easy as the opposition against him in the leading party is still palpable.
After marathon talks with the party state leadership, especially Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and Oommen Chandy, dissident leaders agreed to follow the party’s decision. Congress rebel candidate U V Dinesh Mani on Monday withdrew his nomination but said soon after that if Mayoori loses, the Congress state leadership would be responsible, not the local leaders. Party members would start campaigning for the UDF candidate in the coming days, he added.
After the weeks-long uncertainty, Mayoori told the media that all issues over the seat have been settled and UDF workers will be active in election campaigning in the coming days. “The UDF has much hope in the seat. The UDF’s winning chances in the seat were the reason for dissidence. However, issues are over now and we will win the seat this time,” he added. He added that he had never wanted to hurt M K Raghavan, MP. “I expresses my regret if he felt bad on the issue,” he added.
The Congress leadership had found it difficult to quell the opposition of local leaders to the seat allocation to NCK. Initially, Chandy held discussions with the leaders and another round of discussion was held with NCK leaders in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. But it failed to end the impasse.