MALAPPURAM: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second largest ally in the UDF, is not satisfied with the way Congress is handling the Shashi Tharoor issue. The IUML MLAs expressed their dissatisfaction during a meeting convened by party state chief Panakkad Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal in Malappuram on Sunday, ahead of the assembly session beginning on Monday.
The meeting mainly aimed at deciding on the party’s stance on various issues, including the Vizhinjam protests and the proposed bill to strip the governor of the chancellorship of the universities in the state.
“Congress members fight with each other over Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor’s tour in the state. The party thought that the issue ended during Tharoor’s Malabar visit.
Now, a similar situation has arisen during his South Kerala visit. The fight over Tharoor will widen the rift in state Congress and it will not help the UDF regain power in the state,” said a party source. During his Malabar visit, Tharoor visited IUML leaders at the residence of Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal. The IUML leaders also extended support to Tharoor’s programmes in the state.
An IUML MLA from Malappuram said the party is not against Vizhinjam port. “We are not against the project as it was initiated during the term of the UDF government,” the MLA said. IUML state general secretary P M A Salam said the government should also consider the demands of the Vizhinjam protesters. “We don’t want to see the government completing the project by suppressing the protests,” he said.
Salam said the League MLAs will present the party’s stand on various matters during the meeting of the UDF parliamentary members ahead of the assembly session. On the stand to be taken on the ordinance that will be introduced in the assembly to strip the governor of the chancellorship, Salam said it would also be revealed at the UDF meeting.
Earlier, IUML took a different stand from that of the Congress on the move by Governor Arif Mohammad Khan’s to ask the vice-chancellors of universities in the state to resign. While Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and state Congress president K Sudhakaran welcomed the governor’s move, IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty termed the action unacceptable. Hence, the LDF will keenly be waiting to know the IUML’s stand on the ordinance.