THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Though both the Congress and IUML leaderships have been stating that the latter has every right to a third Lok Sabha seat, the odds are stacked against it happening.
Several permutations and combinations are being bandied about and the current buzz is around IUML staking claim to a second Rajya Sabha seat, instead. But that has left the Congress red-faced as two of the UDF’s serving MPs in the upper house are Muslims -- P V Abdul Wahab of IUML and Jebi Mather of Congress. A third RS seat for the League could invite the wrath of other communities, it fears. Speculation is also rife about incumbent Ponnani MP, E T Mohammed Basheer, expressing his desire to step down from electoral politics in favour of an RS ticket.
On July 1, three RS seats -- held by CPI’s Binoy Viswam, CPM’s Elamaram Kareem and KC(M)’s Jose K Mani -- in the state will fall vacant. When Jose was elected to the RS on December 1, 2021, he was in the UDF camp. Apart from Ponnani, the second Lok Sabha seat that IUML holds is currently represented by M P Abdussamad Samadani in Malappuram. The 77-year-old Basheer has been a four-term MLA from Tirur and Peringalam assembly constituencies, besides his three terms as a Lok Sabha MP from Ponnani.
There is talk within the party that Basheer should give way to a youth leader in Ponnani, a senior IUML leader said.
“For some time, speculation has been rife that Basheer will not be in the running for a fourth LS term. Moreover, he will need to work real hard to win from Ponnani, which has forced the leadership to contemplate fielding a youth leader. If the Congress parts with a third LS seat, then obviously it would go to a youth leader. There’s nothing wrong in IUML demanding a second Rajya Sabha seat as there were two Muslim RS MPs, B V Abdulla Koya and Abdussamad Samadani, from the IUML during K Karunakaran’s tenure,” the senior League leader told TNIE.
The names of former Azhikode MLA K M Shaji and Youth League state general secretary P K Firos are doing the rounds for the Ponnani seat. But it’s reliably learned that both are keen to remain in state politics with the Congress unlikely to come to power at the Centre. The Congress leadership is on a sticky wicket as it doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers of the League, aware of the danger when a section of its leaders express a desire to part ties with the UDF.
A senior Congress MP recalled the controversy over the fifth IUML minister, Manjalamkuzhi Ali, during the second Oommen Chandy-led UDF government. “It’ll not be feasible to hand UDF’s lone RS seat to the IUML. A controversy on the lines of the fifth minister row will then be on the cards which the NSS and SNDP Yogam will wholeheartedly rake up,” a senior Congress MP said.
There is also the narrative that the current imbroglio over the third LS seat can be avoided if one of the serving Congress legislators steps down and offers his seat to the IUML. But this will be another quagmire for the Congress to deal with.
Basheer keen on RS seat
Speculation is also rife about incumbent Ponnani MP, E T Mohammed Basheer, expressing his desire to step down from electoral politics in favour of an RS ticket