Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani, a key accused in the 2008 Bangalore blasts case, is under detention in a Bangalore prison but he is making leaders of both the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-headed lDF in Kerala's Muslim-majority Ponnani constituency extremely anxious as his followers are putting pressure on him to contest the lok Sabha polls from there.
The State leadership of the PDP, of which Madani is the chairman, has requested him to contest in Ponnani during their recent visit to the Bangalore prison where he has been lodged since his arrest on August 17, 2010 as an accused in the blasts case. Madani, whose bail plea is coming up in the Supreme Court on Friday, is expected to respond to the request by the weekend.
If Madani decides to contest the election from Ponnani where the PDP has considerable strength it will pose a huge challenge to both the UDF and lDF. Ponnani is known as a stronghold of major UDF constituent Muslim league but its leaders think Madani's entry as candidate can complicate things for the party.
"It will not be like any PDP candidate contesting in Ponnani if the candidate is Madani, particularly at this point of time when a large number of Muslims think that he is a victim of some kind of conspiracy. The PDP might not have hoped to win this seat ever but it can spoil the game for others this time," admitted a Muslim league campaigner in Ponnani.
In this election, the UDF candidate is Muslim league's ET Muhammad Basheer who had won the seat in the 2009 polls. Most likely, former Congress leader V Abdurahman will be contesting in the seat as an Independent for the lDF. The PDP has been supporting either the UDF or the lDF in the seat whenever its own candidate was not in the fray.
In the 2009 election, the lDF had fielded an Independent candidate, Hussein Randathani, who was said to be chosen by Madani himself as the PDP and the CPI(M), which had taken over the seat from the CPI which used to contest it traditionally, had entered into an alliance though. State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had even shared a stage with Madani then in Ponnani.
Parties like the BJP allege that both the UDF and the lDF are equally responsible for giving a larger-than-life image to Madani, who has faced several serious extremism-related charges. "The left and the UDF have received the help of Madani at one time or the other and they have always tried to protect him," said a BJP leader from Ponnani.
If Madani contests the election this time, it will give the party a great opportunity to tell the people how both the UDF and the lDF had colluded for victimizing him, according to PDP leaders. They complain that the Congress, which had promised to take up the matter with its own Government in Karnataka, had betrayed Madani by not helping him to get bail.
PDP candidate U Kunhimuhammad had got over 45,000 votes in Ponnani constituency in the 2004 lok Sabha election but poll strategists of both the UDF and lDF say that this number could swell greatly if Madani himself is the candidate which might have decisive effect on the outcome of the election in the constituency.
The two fronts also fear the possibility of some Muslim outfits declaring support for Madani in the name of the alleged "denial of justice" to him. They say that Madani may get the support of the Jama'at-e-Islami's Welfare Party, Islamist outfit Popular Front of India. Even the Indian National league, which severed its ties with the lDF recently, could support Madani, they say.
