IUML to contest Kerala RS seat in April
NEW DELHI: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) said on Monday that it would contest a Rajya Sabha seat in the biennial polls from Kerala in April, an arrangement with its ally, the Congress, that may rule out former Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad’s return to the upper house anytime soon.
Two senior Congress strategists in Delhi corroborated the claim and said an IUML candidate will be backed by the Opposition United Democratic Front..
Scotching speculation that the Congress and IUML may enter into an agreement to give Azad the chance of contesting a Rajya Sabha seat from Kerala, the latter’s national president Kader Mohideen told HT: “The seat will go to someone from Kerala. There are lot of youngsters here and our party will select a qualified young man for the seat.
“Our party leaders have decided they won’t give it to any outsider. So Ghulam Nabi Azad’s matter does not appear in our internal discussions,” Mohideen added.
Three Rajya Sabha seats from
Kerala will be up for grabs in April, before the state heads into assembly elections. Members of the Rajya Sabha are chosen by an electoral college of state legislators with a system of proportional representation through a single transferable vote. Two out of the three seats will go to the ruling LDF and the Congress-led UDF will get just one seat.
The two senior Congress strategists cited above, who requested anonymity, and Mohideen said that as per the arrangement, IUML will field a Udf-backed candidate for the Opposition’s seat.
“We have a good understanding with the Congress. Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency was our traditional seat. But in 2019, we gave up our claims on that seat for Rahul Gandhi to contest,” Mohideen added. Azad, who retired from the Rajya Sabha on February 15, could not be re-elected from J&K as the Union territory doesn’t have an elected assembly.
To be sure, Azad too, said that he has no inclination to come to the Rajya Sabha from Kerala. In an interview to HT, Azad said: “I don’t want to take away a seat from my friends in Kerala.”