MALAPPURAM: Kondotty constituency, a traditional Muslim League bastion, may not be the same again. The broken relationship has turned bitter for both the League and the Congress. The resentment between the two surfaced in the civic polls that pitted them against each other.
The Congress even joined hands with the Left independents the CPM fielded to rule the Kondotty Municipality and Vazhakkad Panchayat. First-timer T. V. Ibrahim, the UDF candidate of the League, has already embarked on his campaign, but the LDF is yet to reach a consensus on their candidate.
LDF sources say chances are for an independent candidate this time as things are conducive for a win. That will ensure a fierce fight on the cards. “Apart from local issues that led to the UDF’s collapse, resentments against the League candidate among a section of party workers will play spoiler,” says Pramod Das, a local CPM leader.
“The LDF has improved its position in a big way in last year’s local polls.” The constituency consists of six panchayats and a municipality but UDF remains intact only in three panchayats. Its vote share of 31,717 in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls has narrowed down to 5,000.
K. Muhammdunni Haji had won in 2011 with a record majority of 28,149 votes.
The LDF is in an all-out effort to capitalise resentments to break the League fortress of a confident League “The Left-led concoction in local polls will never hurt the League’s chances,” says K.N.A. Khader, former Kondotty legislator and the party's district general secretary. “There is enough time to iron out the differences.”
