UDF refuses to blink as Anvar sets 48-hour deadline for concrete political accommodation in alliance

A seemingly intractable All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader P.V. Anvar evidently raised the spectre of throwing a spanner in the works of the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) Nilambur Assembly byelection campaign by signalling non-cooperation if he does not get “concrete accommodation” in the Opposition alliance within 48 hours. 

Mr. Anvar termed the UDF’s offer to billet him as an “associate member” in the alliance as amorphous. He said the TMC reserved the right to recalibrate the party’s political tack in the Nilambur bypoll.

“The TMC can ill afford to remain on the sidelines in Nilambur as a fence-sitting politically shapeless entity. The national committee will take a call after the 48-hour deadline for the UDF expires. It is too early in the day to postulate whether the TMC will enter the fray, he said.

However, the UDF leadership appeared not to blink. In Malappuram, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, flanked by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) State general secretary P.M.A. Salam, said the ball was in Mr. Anvar’s court. 

“It is for Mr. Anvar to decide whether to team up with the UDF in the Nilambur byelection campaign. The UDF’s reciprocation will hinge on Mr. Anvar’s cooperation,” he said.

Despite the public posturing, Mr. Anvar and other UDF leaders engaged in last-minute closed-door negotiations to avoid crossing the political Rubicon in the run-up to the pivotal byelection on June 19. Local Congress leaders called on Mr. Anvar.

Mr. Anvar held talks with IUML national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty. “The IUML heard Mr. Anvar. It did not mediate separately with him as per coalition ethics,” he said. Mr. Kunhalikutty pointedly refused to discuss what he termed the “hypothetical question” of whether Mr. Anvar, a two-time legislator from Nilambur, would throw his hat into the ring.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan chaired the party’s Nilambur mandalam committee meeting to finalise the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) candidate.

He said the “convulsions in the UDF” had no bearing on the LDF’s electoral prospects in the Assembly constituency. Mr. Govindan refused to divulge whether the CPI(M) would field an Independent or a party member. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan and State committee member M. Suraj attended the meeting.