Stany Bela
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Mar 16: Ramesh Chennithala, leader of opposition, Kerala Legislative Assembly said recently said that the first list of candidates for Kerala Lok Sabha elections will be announced on Saturday March 16. Out of the 16 seats, candidates for only 5 or 6 are yet to be decided.
It is learnt that the name of U T Ifthikar, brother of Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister U T Khader, reached the Congress screening committee on the afternoon of Friday March 15 at Delhi. This has given rise to speculations that U T Ifthikar may be fielded as the Congress candidate from Kasargod Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming general elections.
As a professional and social worker, U T Ifthikar is a well-known face in Dakshina Kannada and Kasargod. Besides this, Ifthikar has a stronghold in Muslim community in Kasargod because majority of his relatives and family members are residing in various parts there. He is a regular visitor to various activities and programmes hosted by social service organizations in Kasargod. So it will not be a surprise if Kasargod district Congress committee gives green signal to Ifthikar to contest as a candidate, in spite of being an 'outsider'.
The constituency has a large number of Kannada speaking people and Congress thinks if a Kannada-speaking candidate contests the election, they may win the battle. In the previous election T Siddique lost only by a margin of 6,000 votes against P Karunakaran, the CPI(M) candidate. Keeping this in mind, Congress state leadership and national leadership want to give ticket to a contestant who has a strong presence among Malayalam speaking voters. At the same time, it is custom for the Congress candidate from this constituency to be from the Muslim community. Hence Ifthikar’s hold in the Muslim community in the constituency can give the party a better edge in the election.
When Daijiworld contacted U T Ifthikar, he said he was not aware about who suggested his name to the Congress leadership. "I am not a full time politician. I am more attached with social work and my profession. It is true that I know a majority of Congress leaders and members because I have close relationship with them for the past many years. I am a frequent visitor of the constituency because of many social programmes. I am not such a big person to contest for the position of Member of Parliament. I do not have any idea about my name in the screening list. If the Congress leadership and the people want me to contest from Kasargod, I cannot refuse, because I have always given priority to listen to the public," he said.
Meanwhile, CPI (M) has already declared K P Sathishchandran as its candidate from Kasargod. He is a widely accepted public figure in the constituency.