MALAPPURAM: The IUML national general secretary and Vengara MLA P.K Kunhalikutty will resign from the state Assembly on Friday in the wake of his victory in the Malappuram Lok Sabha byelection. According to party sources, Mr Kunhalikutty may submit his resignation to the Speaker after a UDF meeting on Friday at Thiruvananthapuram. Mr Kunhalikutty has again made it clear on Tuesday that he will continue to be active in the UDF leadership in Kerala. Meanwhile, several names have been emerged within the Muslim League for the imminent bypoll in Vengara Assembly seat which was represented by Mr Kunhalikutty since its inception in 2011.
Though the party has not initiated official discussions, rumours are abuzz that the chance will be given to one of the former MLAs Abdurahman Randathani, party district general secretary K.N.A Khader or state general secretary K.P.A Majeed. All of them are Kunhalikutty loyalists. “The party will discuss the candidate only after a notification for the bypoll comes from the EC,” Mr Majeed said. He reiterated that he will never re-enter the electoral fray. “There is no change in my earlier stand that I will never contest election again,” he told this newspaper. However, he has to toe the party line if the IUML asks him to contest in Vengara as it is scouting for a leader to head the party in the Assembly.
Besides Khader and Randathani, there are two others eyeing the Assembly seat. According to party sources, Kunhalikutty’s relative and Vengara Block Panchayath president P.K Muhammed Aslam and party state committee member and NRI businessman C.P. Bava Haji too have started lobbying for the seat. At the same time a section of party leadership is of the view that the chance would be given to young leaders like P.M Sadiqali or Muslim Youth League state secretary P.K Firos.
