Captain or Major? After bypoll win, Congress leaders fight over credit

Time of India

4 days ago

T'puram/Kozhikode: UDF's win in Nilambur has sparked serious differences within the Congress, with senior leader Ramesh Chennithala voicing his displeasure over opposition leader VD Satheesan being praised as the 'captain' of the bypoll victory.
"When I was opposition leader, we won several bypolls. But no one called me a captain," he said. To ease tensions, Satheesan responded, "If I'm called the captain now, then Chennithala is the major of the party."
Chennithala said the party learned a key lesson from Nilambur — unity leads to victory. "In Nilambur, the anti-govt sentiment was strong and people clearly demanded change," he said.
Chennithala also distanced himself from Satheesan's 'Mission 63' plan for the upcoming assembly election.
Satheesan had proposed the strategy to secure 63 winnable seats, but the party hasn't revealed which seats are part of the plan. "Will it be a problem if we win more?" Chennithala asked.
On the debate over former LDF-backed MLA PV Anvar's entry into UDF, Chennithala said, "We tried to bring Anvar to our side, but his criticism of our candidate became a problem. We tried to correct him, but he didn't listen. So UDF decided to ignore him."
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Asked if the opposition leader would become the chief minister if Congress won the next election, Chennithala said the party high command would take a final call.
While Congress leaders have largely aligned with Satheesan's stand opposing Anvar's entry into UDF, IUML leaders have signalled that the door is not totally shut on the former MLA with senior leaders saying that Anvar was a factor in Nilambur bypoll and the votes he secured would come up for discussion.
IUML MP ET Mohammed Basheer said Anvar was a factor in Nilambur bypoll as he secured significant votes and it was natural in politics to consider broadening UDF's support base ahead of future elections. "The matter of how to accommodate likeminded people for that is something which has to be discussed," he added.
Basheer said there would be more favourable changes in the relations between parties during elections and said that it is something that can be discussed then.
"The issue of Anvar's entry will automatically come up for discussions," he added.
Senior leader MK Muneer said though he felt that this is not the time to discuss Anvar's entry into the front, the votes he received would come up for discussion. "We are not viewing the over 18,000 votes he secured lightly. Most votes he secured came from the Left. That is not a small number," said Muneer.
He added that Anvar's remarks against UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath and Satheesan had created difficulties in reaching a collective decision.
"IUML had taken initiatives in this regard at the outset. But we won't do anything that would cause damage to the front," he said.
IUML's leadership meeting in Malappuram on Friday will discuss Nilambur election results. After UDF won in Nilambur, Satheesan had said that the front had closed its door to Anvar based on a collective decision and there were no discussions about reopening it at the moment.
Anvar, who resigned as the MLA after a fallout with CPM and necessitated the bypoll, made inroads into the vote banks of both fronts. He secured 19,760 votes (11.23%) in the constituency.