IUML's state general council member NA Abubakar participated a session of the programme and sat beside Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
An image from the Nava Kerala Sadas. (X)
In an embarrassment for the Congress, a key member of its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), participated in the Left government’s outreach programme, the Nava Kerala Sadas, in Kasaragod on Sunday, 19 November, despite it being boycotted by the Opposition UDF.
The IUML’s state general council member NA Abubakar not only participated in the morning session of the programme but was also seen sitting right beside Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The development comes in the wake of IUML MLA and Malappuram district general secretary P Abdul Hameed being recently nominated to the director board of the Kerala State Co-operative Bank, now called Kerala Bank.
The IUML leader’s participation and Hameed’s nomination come amidst speculations that the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala was trying to woo the Congress ally.
After participating in the morning session of the Nava Kerala Sadas, Abubakar told reporters that it was not an issue of the UDF or the IUML.
“I wanted to bring to the attention of the chief minister some problems related to education and national highways. I have done that,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress claimed that the outreach programme has turned into a stage for politically denouncing and criticising the Opposition at state expense.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that no one talks about politics in government programmes, but only politics was being discussed in the Nava Kerala Sadas.
He also termed the programme a ‘failure’ as people could not meet the chief minister or ministers and hand over complaints directly to them nor were their issues resolved.
“The crowd at the programme was of those who were compelled or forced to be there,” he alleged.
Congress MP K Muraleedharan recalled that when former chief minister and party stalwart Oommen Chandy had held such programmes, he would directly collect the complaints and provide a resolution then and there.
“Now the programme has become a stage to denounce and criticise the Opposition at state expense,” he said and added that it was not a government event, but that of the CPI(M).
Chennithala said if collecting complaints was the only objective, the chief minister and ministers need not go to all the constituencies at such huge expense and could receive grievances via online mode.
On the other hand, state Tourism Minister PA Mohamed Riyas said many UDF MLAs want to take part in the programme, but were unable to do so due to “the stubbornness and anti-Left hatred of some Congress leaders”.
The Opposition Congress and the BJP have criticised Vijayan and the ruling CPI(M) over the conduct of the Nava Kerala Sadas amidst the financial crunch and have dubbed the one-month-long outreach programme as ‘sheer extravagance’.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
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