THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is the political package put forward by the duo, KPCC working president A P Anil Kumar and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal which helped settle the Nilambur candidature deadlock in favour of Aryadan Shoukath. Several leaders told TNIE that as per the package, the Congress national leadership has assured V S Joy—who was a main contender for the candidature—that he will either be given a seat in the next assembly election or will be considered for the next Rajya Sabha seat from Kerala.
Anil, who is in charge of the constituency, held several rounds of talks with both leaders. To resolve the issue, Anil, with the intervention of Venugopal, proposed the formula before Joy who accepted it. It was also Anil’s strategy that kept the candidate decision a top secret.
P V Anvar was kept in the dark that ultimately provoked him to turn against Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, who had taken a stern stand against Anvar’s alleged pressure tactics. His ultimatum that it is up to Anvar to decide whether he wants to stand with the UDF or not, is seen by his party colleagues as a tactical victory.
The Congress has decided that Anvar will be accommodated in the UDF only if he corrects his present position and complies with the front’s policy. Trinamool Congress (TMC), of which Anvar is part of, will not be made a UDF partner. When the issue of TMC’s inclusion came up, the state leadership had approached the AICC.
“It was the AICC’s instruction that TMC could be part of UDF as an associate member. We have already conveyed this message to Anvar clearly. It is up to Anvar to decide where he wants to stand,” a senior Congress leader told TNIE.
The statement of Anvar that Joy had no ‘Godfather’ in Congress, and attempts to project Joy as a representative of a particular community, were also seen as divisive politics. Congress is of the view that, since Shafi Parambil resigned from Palakkad and Rahul Mamkootathil became MLA, Muslim representation in Congress got reduced. The Congress knows that it could not survive a political backlash if it fielded a non-Muslim candidate in Malappuram district.
Though Anvar tried to put Venugopal in the controversy, the latter also chose to tread carefully. While Venugopal stated that Anvar will be protected, the former was careful enough to uphold the Congress state leadership’s stand. “As the ball is in Anvar’s court we have nothing to do,” a KPCC office-bearer told TNIE.
“Venugopal will not meet Anvar till he ‘rectifies’ his stand. Anvar has lost all credentials,” he said. Meanwhile, senior leaders K Sudhakaran, Ramesh Chennithala and K Muralidharan are in touch with Anvar to defuse the tension.