Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty, MP, is set to quit the Lok Sabha seat to contest the upcoming Assembly elections.
A meeting of the party State working committee held here on Wednesday decided to recall Mr. Kunhalikutty from Parliament and make him the party’s leader in the Assembly.
Mr. Kunhalikutty had quit his Assembly membership and been elected to the Lok Sabha in a byelection held in April 2017 following the death of E. Ahamed, MP. He was again re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019.
The IUML, in a meeting of its high power committee on September 6, had decided to call back Mr. Kunhalikutty to State politics by entrusting him with the charge of leading the local body and Assembly elections. Now that the local body elections are over and the stage being set for the Assembly elections to be held in less than six months, the IUML reposed yet again its confidence in Mr. Kunhalikutty’s leadership.
He will step down from the Lok Sabha membership in such a way as to hold the Parliament byelection in Malappuram along with the upcoming Assembly elections, said IUML State general secretary K.P.A. Majeed.
Mr. Majeed said that the party would launch a campaign to counter the CPI(M)’s communal allegations against it. “The CPI(M), which boasts itself of being secular, has made some gains by tying up with parties such as the SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India). We will expose this fraud face of the CPI(M). Communal forces are making gains in Kerala when others try to weaken the IUML,” said Mr. Majeed.
Mr. Kunhalikutty said the spirit of the party’s decision asking him to lead the Assembly election was that “I should spend more time in Kerala.”
According to IUML chairman and State president Sayed Hyderali Shihab Thangal, the party had reaped dividends under Mr. Kunhalikutty’s leadership. Although the United Democratic Front (UDF) suffered setback in the local body elections, the IUML displayed its supremacy in its bastion in Malappuram district.
