Malappuram: As Malappuram gears up for the local body by-elections, the United Democratic Front (UDF) is grappling with internal strife. The Congress and Welfare Party are contesting against each other in the by-poll to be held in ward number 17 of Koottilangadi panchayat near Malappuram town . The sharing of power in the panchayat has led to the issues related to the by-poll.
Congress was frustrated that they had not been given the standing committee position when the Congress member quit the Vice President post in the panchayat as agreed earlier. "The belligerent approach of the IUML has led to the issues in the front. They had a secret pact with the Welfare Party of India (WPI) in the panchayat and have not given the prominence deserved for the Congress party.
Congress and IUML ruled the panchayat for 53 years and the WPI came to the UDF at the time of the last local body election. However, IUML has given more prominence to this party rather than the Congress and it resulted in the dispute and fielding a candidate backed by the Congress,'' Nasar Padinjattemuri, a congress leader from the region said.
On the other hand, the WPI and IUML alliance is confident that they would easily win the election. "We have the official candidate of UDF in the ward. The ward is known as a bastion of IUML and WPI and the candidate in 2020 has won with a clear majority of 333 votes. As far as I know, the candidate of the Congress here does not even have the backing of the district leadership of the party,'' V K Jalaludheen, WPI ward member in the panchayat said. Panchayat President and IUML leader N K Hussain said that the issues would be solved soon and it would not affect the relationship between the parties any longer.
Ealachola Jubairiya is the rebel candidate of the UDF in the panchayat. Naseera Nasar will be the official candidate of UDF in the ward and LDF has fielded K T Rafiya as their candidate. All the candidates are competing as independent candidates. It's not just the Congress which faces rebel threat. Sukumaran, a CITU worker contests as a rebel candidate against the CPM at Vattamkulam panchayat near Edappal. The Congress party has withdrawn their candidate here.
