KOZHIKODE: A day after the members of Malayora Vikasana Samithi, which has the backing of the Thamarassery Diocese came out against the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate in Thiruvambady Assembly constituency and urged the Congress to take over the seat, Muslim League on Saturday ruled out the possibility of any compromise on the matter.
On Friday, Samithi members led by chancellor of the diocese Fr Abraham Kavilpurayidathil, met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other IUML leaders against the candidature of V M Ummer Master. They also urged the Congress leadership to take over the Thiruvambady seat from IUML.
IUML State General Secretary K P A Majeed told ‘Express’ that it is not in favour of swapping the sitting seat of Thiruvambady for some other seat with Congress along with sticking to its decision to field Ummer Master.
“Thiruvambady is our sitting seat and we have already announced our candidate. We are not ready for any kind of compromise on the Thiruvambady seat,” he said.
Ummer Master, sitting MLA from Koduvally Assembly constituency, was shifted to Thiruvambady for accommodating IUML District Secretary M A Razak Master there.
Although a section in the Congress had earlier demanded the taking over of the Thiruvambady seat, it is not so keen on it now following the announcement of the candidate. “Muslim League has already announced its candidate based on the consensus reached within the UDF. We do not want to create issues by retaking the sitting seat of IUML and it is very unlikely that the Congress will retake the Thiruvambady seat. However, a final decision on the matter will be taken by the UDF and Congress leadership,” said a Congress leader on condition of anonymity.
He added that if the Congress wants to retake Thiruvambady, it will have to provide another winnable seat to IUML. “The exchanging of seats will create a lot of issues for both Congress and IUML. If Congress actually wants to retake the Thiruvambady seat, in all probability we will have to give one of our sitting seat to IUML. Muslim League will also find it difficult to accommodate Ummer Master in a new constituency after announcing his candidature from Thiruvambady,” Congress leader added.
Meanwhile, Chacko Kalamparambil, chairman, Malayora Vikasana Samithi said that the chances of Samithi fielding a candidate of its own could not be ruled out.
We are not opposing the Muslim League candidate on personal grounds. He is an outsider and could not understand the concerns of the people especially that of farmers in the region. We have urged the Congress to take over the seat so that it can field a candidate belonging to the region and whom we can count on. We will wait till March 7 and will announce our stand thereafter, if UDF failed to meet our demands,” he said.