Will not blindly oppose Cong-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra: IUML

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will not "blindly oppose" the Congress' move to form government with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, said its national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty here on Thursday. Talking to PTI, he said the Congress and the NCP wanted to join hands with the Hindutva party Shiv Sena, "out of political compulsion" just to prevent the BJP from coming back to power in Maharashtra.

"Straightaway opposing the move creates so many problems. We may not blindly oppose the Cong-SS alliance just for opposing it," Kunhalikutty said. The IUML would wait for the common minimum programme (CMP) of the three parties to react further, he added.

IUML is the second largest party in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. The Lok Sabha member from Malappuram (Kerala) further said though the IUML and SS had different ideologies, a special type of situation had been created now forcing the Congress and NCP to ally with SS to unite the opposition against the BJP.

"Because in this stage Cong and NCP have compulsions to join with SS. You have to consider that too", he said. In a separate interview to PTI, IUML national president K M Kader Mohideen recalled the quote of the party's former leader late Quaide-E-Millath Muhammad Ismail - "you can even align with Satan (bad spirit) if there is a CMP".

Former parliamentarian Quaide-E-Millath was member of the Constituent Assembly. Mohideen too said IUML would wait for the CMP before deciding further.

However, the Cong-SS alliance issue was not taken up with Congress president Sonia Gandhi by IUML so far, he said. The question of sharing dais with SS during meetings would be decided in the days to come, he said.

A delegation of IUML leaders met Sonia Gandhi here on Wednesday and discussed various issues including the recent Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya title dispute and NRC controversy in Assam. Maharashtra on Thursday appeared headed for a new government with Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan asserting that his party and the NCP have "complete unanimity" on all issues concerning government formation in the state and they will now hold talks with the Shiv Sena to "finalise the architecture of the alliance".

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