MALAPPURAM: After a brief lull, in the wake of M Swaraj’s dramatic entry into the Nilambur by-election fray and the overwhelming reception he received in the constituency, the Congress has hit the campaign trail with renewed vigour.
The grand old party first tried to brand the CPM as ‘anti-Muslim’. But with P V Anwar also positioning himself along similar lines, Congress leaders have upped the ante, attacking the CPM for ‘denigrating Malappuram’ district by branding it a hub of anti-social activities.
The tone was set by AICC general secretary K C Venugopal during the UDF election convention. On Wednesday, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan turned on the heat saying that CPM leaders have been consistently targeting Malappuram. “The PR agency of the chief minister issued a press release to a national daily in Delhi which said that extremist activities and gold smuggling are thriving in Malappuram. This is the narrative built by the Sangh parivar,” he said. “The CPM leader assigned to lead the LDF campaign in Nilambur is the party politburo member A Vijayaraghavan. There have been at least a dozen statements from himinsulting the people of Malappuram,” Satheesan said.
Vijayaraghavan had stated that Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat with the help of extremists, Satheesan said. “She got more than 95,000 votes from the Nilambur assembly segment. We want to know whether the CPM leader will stick to his earlier stand.”
Satheesan said that all the statements of Vijayaraghavan on Malappuram and IUML leaders were in bad taste. “He has also said that those who staged agitation against the highway development in Malappuram were extremists,” he said.
The BJP was reluctant to field a candidate in Nilambur, but later named a non-entity. “This shows the clandestine deal between the CPM and the BJP,” he said.
The CPM has been cautious in dealing with allegations of its ‘anti-Muslim’ stance. Swaraj reminded that it was the Congress which had joined hands with BJP’s precursor Jan Sangh, in opposing the formation of Malappuram district. “Congress had taken out a march from Chandakunnu against the formation of the district,” he said.
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is expected to campaign for Aryadan Shoukath by addressing a few meetings on June 9 or 10.