Click to play videoNew Delhi: Controversy over terror-accused Abdul Nasser Madhani has left the CPM party in Kerala divided on the issue.
While some insist his support will help bring in minority votes, chief minister Achuthanandan is adamant that the probe against Madhani will go on.
After serving a jail term of 10 years for the 1998 Coimbatore blast, Abdul Nasser Madhani and his party the PDP is still under the scanner for their alleged involvement in the 2008 Bangalore blast.
That didn't deter CPM State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan from sharing the dias with Madhani.
But the move is bound to escalate tensions between members of the party, diving the numbers between chief minister Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.
“More investigation was necessary to reach a conclusion about Abdul Nasser Madhani 's terror links. The media reports in this regard cannot be approved or rejected,” said the chief minister.
If documents lying with the SIT of Kerala police are to be believed, a key witness has deposed before the agencies that Madhani and his wife Sufiya Madhani had close links with the terrorists accused in the Bangalore and Surat blasts of 2008. The CPM however has chosen to ignore the factor.
Whether Achutanandan likes it or not, his party seems to be playing the Madhani card quite well to capture the Muslim League strongholds of Malapuram and Ponnani.
Political analyst, MG Radhakrishnan, said, “The Muslim vote bank is more consolidate and focused and Madhani over the last eight nine years has become an iconic figure for the Muslim community.”
By joining hands with the PDP, the CPM has played a masterstroke, hoping to reap rich dividends at the ballot box.
The move, however also opens up a huge political space for Abdul Nasser Madhani and his PDP, something that could communally polarise Kerala politics in the near future.
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