Thiruvananthapuram, 01 June(HS): The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala is on the verge of a major crisis as the Muslim League, the second largest constituent in the alliance, expressing its anger and resentment over the behavior of Leader of Opposition V D Satheeshan.

The high power committee of the Muslim League that met on Sunday evening and presided over by the party supremo Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal, saw many senior leaders in the party giving vent to their displeasure by blaming Satheeshan for the imbroglio in the section of candidate to the 19th June bye-poll at Nilambur as well as vitiating the relationship with P V Anvar, the rebel who quit the Legislatve Assembly which resulted in the 19th June bye-poll.

It was the adamant attitude of Satheeshan that forced the UDF leadership from admitting Anvar into the UDF and this resulted in the latter deciding to contest the election making it a four-cornered contest.

What made the League leadership furious was the scant respect shown by Satheeshan to P K Kunhalikutty who was for admitting Anvar to the UDF. With Anvar choosing to contest the poll, the Muslim votes in the constituency is certain to get split and this will affect the winning chances of the Congress candidate Aryadan Shaukat.

The Muslim League was enthused by the speech delivered by Chief Pinarayi Vijayan earlier in the day during the election meeting held for M Swraj, the CPI(M) candidate from Nilambur. Vijayan alleged that an organization by name United Christian Forum has alleged that the attacks on Christians across the country have shot up manifold since 2014. Though the Forum is a letter-head organization floated by evangelist John Dayal, its statements and allegations are disseminated across the world by the network of Christian news portals,

Satheeshan has a secret agenda behind his moves as he is one of the aspirants for the post of Chief Minister in the eventuality of the UDF winning the election to be held in 2026. The other leaders in the race for the top job are Ramesh Chennithala, K Muraleedharan, K Sudhakaran, Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan and even Rajmohan Unnithan.

The Muslim League has been invited by the CPI(M) to join the LDF so that the Marxist-led front would get strengthened as the CPI has become a kind of extra luggage to the Marxists.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti