Rift in NCP(SP) over Elathur Assembly seat in Kozhikode comes out in the open again

As the seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Assembly polls are progressing in the Left Democratic Front (LDF), a rift is out in the open between two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) [NCP(SP)] in the Elathur constituency in Kozhikode.

While the NCP (SP) Kozhikode district committee and a majority of ‘mandalam’ committees are opposed to fielding incumbent MLA and Minister for Forest A.K. Saseendran again from there, another section has demanded that he be retained.

However, NCP(SP) State president and Kuttanad MLA Thomas K. Thomas told The Hindu on Thursday that the party would take an “appropriate decision” after detailed discussions. “People may have their own ambitions and dreams. The NCP has a system to select candidates. We will choose a candidate for the seats allotted to us,” he said. It is to be noted that a similar situation had occurred ahead of the 2021 polls as well. However, Mr. Saseendran managed to hold on to his candidature with the support of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The NCP had contested from Elathur, Kuttanad, and Kottakkal in the 2021 polls.

Mr. Saseendran has been representing Elathur, a stronghold of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), since 2011. In the 2021 polls, he had defeated United Democratic Front-backed Independent Sulphikar Mayoori by a margin of 38,502 votes.

He had earlier been an MLA for Peringalam (1980) and Edakkad (1982) in Kannur and Balussery in Kozhikode (2006). Mr. Saseendran has also served as a Minister of Transport between 2016 and 2017 and then between 2018 and 2021 in the first Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet. Those opposed to him are of the view that the veteran leader should make way for others this time.

At a district executive committee meeting held a few days ago, representatives of the two groups entered into arguments with each other too after a resolution proposing Mukkom Mohammed, party district president, as the candidate from Elathur, was passed. A majority of the ‘mandalam’ committees in the district had also opposed Mr. Saseendran’s candidature. Thereafter, the Elathur ‘mandalam’ committee separately passed a resolution in support of him. Asked about his candidature, Mr. Saseendran recently told the media that the party would take a final call on the issue.