Kozhikode: Fearing a likely backlash the Left Democratic Front has gone back on its earlier decision to field Karat Faisal yet again as a candidate in the local bodies polls. However, the controversial character who was recently questioned by the Customs in connection with the gold smuggling case may contest as an independent candidate even if he is not extended outside support by the LDF.

The LDF local leadership had planned to give Faisal an opportunity to contest from a ward of the Koduvally Municipality. However, the CPM Kozhikode district committee sensed this was a risky move and intervened to annul the earlier decision.

Faisal, who was earlier the LDF independent member of the Koduvally Panchayat, was till recently a councillor of the Koduvally Municipality. (The term of nearly all local self-government bodies in Kerala had expired last week.)

For the upcoming local body polls, the CPM local leadership had announced him as an LDF- supported independent candidate from the Choondapuram municipal ward.

The announcement was made in a meeting attended by Kerala legislators PTA Rahim and Karat Razak. However, the decision triggered a major controversy. With the gold smuggling case still alive, the CPM leadership felt Faisal's candidature could trigger a major debate across the state and the LDF would have to convince the voters about the logic of the move. Sensing the danger, the CPM state committee directed the district committee to intervene, following which Faisal's candidature was withdrawn on Tuesday evening.

New candidate announced

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Koduvally Service Cooperative Bank president O P Rasheed is the new LDF candidate from Choondapuram ward. However, the UDF alleged that the withdrawal of Faisal's candidature was just a drama and the LDF would secretly support him as an independent candidate.

Past troubles

Faisal, who had left the Muslim League along with P T A Rahim in 2008, became a member of Koduvally Panchayat in 2010. Though he was arraigned as an accused in a case pertaining to seizure of smuggled gold worth Rs 1.84 crore at the Kozhikode International Airport on November 8, 2013 while being a panchayat member, Faisal contested the 2015 local bodies’ poll and became a member of Koduvally Municipality.

It may be recalled that the CPM had earned bad press in 2017 after the then-CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan travelled in Faisal's Mini Cooper car during his campaign called the Jana Jagratha Yathra.

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