KOZHIKODE: The split in Indian National League (INL) just two months after it got a ministerial berth for the first time has turned out to be an ignominious anticlimax for the party, which had been alien to power all throughout its 27 year long history.
The split which followed a bitter public spat between the party’s top leaders over sharing the new found trappings of power has come as a loss of face for the party which had been boasting of having a legacy of its founding leaders choosing principles over power and even relinquishing their MLA posts to join the outfit floated by former IUML leader Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait in 1994.
The party was formed in protest against IUML’s reluctance to come out of UDF in the aftermath of the demolition of Babri Masjid and it had waited for nearly 25 years to gain entry to the LDF.
However, intense factionalism in the party had taken roots even during the candidate selections for the recent assembly election. The victory of party’s lone MLA Ahmed Devarkovil from the Kozhikode South constituency, a sitting seat of IUML, had come as a surprise even for many in the party and the unexpected ministership in the LDF government exacerbated the divisions in the party over spoils of power between the two factions led by party state president A P Abdul Wahab and general secretary Kasim Irikkur.
The party’s two-monthold dalliance with power had triggered a spate of controversies and allegations, including the appointment of personal staff of ports minister Devarkovil, and that the party state general secretary had been unilaterally taking decisions over selection of persons to various positions of power which is set to come the party’s way. Also, a state secretariat member himself had raised bribery allegation against party leadership in the selection of party’s nominee for PSC membership post. There have also been allegations that some top party leaders were trying to hold unofficial parleys with Adani group, which is developing the Vizhinjam port.
The ministership to INL in the second Pinarayi Vijayan government was also aimed to widen the political base of the LDF among the Muslim minorities, especially after the minorities warmed up to the front in the recent elections.
Now, the political fortunes of the party, which has in a way helped the CPM to reach out to minorities, especially in some pockets of Malabar and overcome the image that the CPM and LDF were untouchable for Muslims, will now hinge on the decision to be taken by the CPM.
Already the CPM has let known its strong displeasure over the recent developments in the party by summoning Wahab and Irikkur to Thiruvananthapuram and asking them to ensure that their action won’t cause any disrepute to the LDF.
