Kozhikode, September 06: The new cables from the US Chennai Consulate leaked by the Wikileaks have become the new headache for the Muslim League which is already drowning in the midst of controversies. Minister and party leader Dr MK Muneer is seen to have told the US officials that Minister PK Kunjalikkutty was keeping good relations with the NDF.
Muneer is understood to have told the US officials that the ‘NDF has been infiltrating the IUML party despite a party decision in 1999 to resist such moves’ and that ‘discredited IUML leaders’ such as PK Kunjalikkutty were shielding the NDF for their own selfish interests.
Meanwhile, Muneer denied the reports that he had talked to the US officials about the internal matters of the party, including the allegations on PK Kunjalikkutty. However, he reportedly said that he had friends in the American Consulate and that they used to ask him about terrorism and related things in Kerala. He added that he had always opposed the NDF publicly.
Kunjalikkutty laughed at the revelations of the Wikileaks as ‘weak leaks’. He pointed out the Muneer himself had denied the reports and that the state general secretary of the SDPI (whicih was formed out of the NDF) Majeed Faizee had contested against him in Vengara in the Assembly elections.
In the state Secretariat held last day in Kozhikode, the party passed a resolution opposing former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan’s demand for CBI probe into the ice-cream case. The case had been to the Supreme Court and Kunjalikkutty has been found innocent of the charges. VS has now come up with the demand for CBI probe, in order to conceal the accusations against himself and his son. Party leaders explained in the press conference after the Secretariat that that controversy regarding the Wikileaks revelations and Muneer was not discussed.
Meanwhile, the PFI stated that both MK Muneer and KM Shaji had sought the organisation’s support in elections, but the two leaders denied it.
In another development, minister and Muslim League leader VK Ibrahim Kunju said that MK Muneer should be careful not to be a tool in the hands of the party’s enemies. All leaders of the party should be careful in the matter, but Muneer should take extra care as the son of CH Muhammed Koya, he reportedly said in a television interview.
CPI (M) state general secretary Pinarayi Vijayan demanded that PK Kunjalikkutty and Dr MK Muneer should step down as ministers following the new Wikileaks revelations. Muneer compared the NDF which functions in Kerala to an organisation like the Al Qaeda. If Kunjalikkutty has connections with such an organisation, he does not deserve to be in such a high position. Instead of opening his mind before the American officers, Muneer should have informed it to the respected authorities. So Muneer also is not eligible to continue in his position. Rejecting Muneer’s explanation that the Wikileaks revelations were not right, Mr Vijayan said that the WIkileaks revelations regarding the CPI (M) and its leaders were right.
However, the new revelations by the Wikileaks have again pushed the Muslim League to the defender’s role, at a time when the ice-cream sex scandal case and revelations in the Marad clashes are haunting the party. Controversies have been following the party since its accession to power with a historic majority of seats in the Assembly. The fact that the party’s No.1 and state government’s No 2 Industries Minister PK Kunjalikkutty is in the front of the all controversies is affecting not only the party but the government also. The party’s decisions in the matters of deciding the Vice-Chancellor of the Calicut University, giving NOC to CBSE schools, issue of professional colleges and entrance etc had becoem controversial.
The ice-cream case came up again in the last days of the last government by the special interest of the then Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan with the help of Kunjalikkutty’s relative Raoof. Suspicions were pointed then itself towards League leader Dr MK Muneer, who was the chairman of the Indiavision newschannel which brought out the new revelations. While then it was about the news channel, now hands are being pointed directly towards Dr Muneer. The Wikileaks reports say that Muneer directly talked to the American officers about the NDF-relation of Kunjalikkutty.
The relation with the NDF had earlier also created headlines within the party. Muneer and Youth League president KM Shaji led the crusade against the NDF and spoke in several stages against the organisation. Yet, the NDF supported the League in elections.
However, all these controversies surrounding the Muslim League have come as a blessing in disguise for the Congress, which had feared extra pressure from the League in the power of its commendable success in the elections. It is to be noted that the League is not demanding highly about the fifth ministership nowadays. There is also reportedly discontent inside the League over the submissive attitude of Kunjalikkutty due to his personal controversies.
–Agencies