By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Thiruvananthapuram: The People’s Democratic Party last day denied the news reports that the party had expressed willingness to cooperate with the Muslim League. Party’s working chairman Poonthura Siraj said that the reports were baseless and meant to create confusion among the party members.
Poonthur Siraj said in a press conference that the news reports were the result of a hidden agenda of the party’s enemies. The PDP cannot cooperate with the Muslim League in any way in the issues of imperialism, fascism and religious minorities etc. The League and the PDP are in two different poles in respect to views and policies. The misunderstanding came in the response given to the League’s statement on the failure of the PDP in the elections.
Mr Siraj said that he had responded to PK Kunhalikkutty’s statement in this way – ‘The League should not think that Kerala is only Malappuram. The League should check what the situation of the party is in districts other than Malappuram. Even the district general secretary failed in Thiruvananthapuram. The League should treat itself instead of blaming the PDP. The PDP would see if it can cooperate with the League if the latter made changes in its policies.’
Mr Siraj’s explanation came after Muslim league general secretary PK Kunhalikkutty stated in a press conference that the Muslim League did not want the cooperation of the PDP. He asked the PDP not to bring the League into trouble by giving support.
Poonthura Siraj had been reported to have said that ‘those who loved Maudany had voted for the UDF in the Panchayat election.’ Reports suggest that Siraj had said so in a press conference held in Kollam on Friday. He said that the UDF may not acknowledge it but that was the fact. The LDF government which came to power with the support of the PDP had not done anything for Maudany who is in jail in Bengaluru. Siraj had reportedly added that the party did not see the Muslim League as an enemy and that it was willing to cooperate with the League. The PDP has no wishes that the League should decay or go insignificant in Kerala. The power of League should not only be in Malappuram district. The party should have MLAs in central and south Kerala, he added according to reports.
The PDP had not announced any support or cooperation with either the LDF or the UDF before the elections. The party had stated that it would face the elections alone and that it would not support any front. It asked its members to vote for the most suitable candidate in places the party did not field any candidate of its own. The PDP had supported the UDF in 2001 Assembly elections, which came after the arrest of Maudany in the Coimbatore case in 1998, reportedly as the UDF offered help for Maudany’s release. But in the next elections in 2006, the party supported the LDF which came to power. It supported the LDF in the last Parliament elections also but the CPI (M) analysed later that the cooperation with the PDP was a reason for the front’s defeat in the elections. The LDF began to keep away from the PDP after the elections and it grew wide by the arrest of Maudany. This finally led the party not to support any of the fronts in the local body polls.