Kannur: In what is being seen as a fresh bid by the CPM to woo the Indian Union Muslim League, a key constituent in the UDF, to the Left front, the party has extended an invitation to IUML strongman P K Kunhalikutty to attend a public meet being organised to commemorate Communist leader M V Raghavan on Thursday.

Organised by the M V Raghavan Charitable Trust, the IUML national general secretary has agreed to deliver the keynote address in a seminar discussing the 'Role of Cooperative Sector in the Development of Kerala' at the Kannur Chamber of Commerce Hall. Cooperative Minister V N Vasavan will inaugurate the seminar.

The League had recently turned down the CPM's invitation to attend a Palestine Solidarity Rally scheduled on November 11 owing to technical reasons, which is the ban imposed by the UDF on all its constituents from participating in programmes organised by the CPM.

Meanwhile, the Communist Marxist Party led by C P John is also organising a M V Raghavan commemoration meet on the same day. IUML MLA P K Basheer will deliver the keynote address at the event.

According to the organisers, P K Kunhalikutty was a close associate of M V Raghavan and the leaders contributed significantly to the development of the cooperative sector. “This is the lone reason for inviting him,” they said.

The development comes when the Congress is openly fighting the CPM on all fronts, especially in Kannur, which is the home district of KPCC president K Sudhakaran.

At a time when the Congress has stirred up a storm across the state over the alleged involvement of CPM leaders in multiple cooperative bank scams, the IUML's decision to attend a CPM event on the sector would be construed as a dent to the UDF's image. It is also a big blow to CMP in Kannur. Kunhalikutty, earlier, made remarks supporting the CPM's stand on existing issues in the cooperative sector.

Speculations about IUML moving closer to an amalgamation with the Left front grew stronger after the KPCC president made a controversial remark that “one need not bark now to become a dog in the next life”. The IUML objected strongly to the remark and the Congress had to convene a meeting with the aggrieved leaders to reach a parley.

Clarifying the decision to stay away from the Palestine Solidarity Rally, Kunhalikuty said: "We are happy to join hands with the CPM over the Palestine issue. However, being an ally of the UDF, we cannot technically take part in the event.” However, the CPM has left its invitation open to the IUML. CPM state secretary M V Govindan said that though IUML leaders will not attend the rally, its workers and followers will take part. Interestingly, the IUML leadership has kept silent on the CPM leader's invitation to its party workers.

In 2020, the CPM invited the IUML for a seminar in connection with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Though the IUML was initially in favour of attending the programme, it later turned down the invite citing the Congress’ exclusion.