UDF slams CM Vijayan over remarks on IUML chief; CPI(M) hits back

PTI Thiruvananthapuram: With just a day left for the Palakkad assembly bypoll, the Congress-led UDF opposition on Monday targeted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over his remarks about IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal. The opposition accused him and the CPI(M) of having a nexus with the Sangh Parivar and communal forces. Both the CPI(M) and the BJP hit back at the UDF, stating that the Muslim League leader was not beyond criticism. While addressing a bypoll campaign meeting for LDF candidate P Sarin in Palakkad on Sunday, Vijayan criticised Thangal, who is the spiritual leader of a significant section of Sunni Muslims in Kerala, saying he was acting like a worker of Jamaat-e- Islami.

The IUML leadership alleged that the statements of the chief minister reflected the CPI(M)’s close ties with communal forces. Strongly supporting Thangal and the League on the issue, the Congress accused Vijayan of attempting to promote majority communalism in the state. Responding to the CM’s remarks, the IUML, the second-largest coalition partner in the Congressled UDF, launched a strongly worded attack against him through an editorial in the party mouthpiece “Chandrika”.

The editorial said that the people of Kerala fondly call Panakkad Thangal the brand ambassador of communal harmony, and CM Vijayan should not attempt to “assess his qualifications.” “Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s attempt to evaluate Thangal’s qualifications reflects his and his party’s close ties with communal forces,” the mouthpiece alleged. At a time when the Sangh Parivar forces are making all attempts to destroy the communal harmony of the state and try to create communal polarisation by raising various issues, CM Vijayan and the Left government have been constantly doing things that support them, it claimed.