PDP in fray, but, where?

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by Abdul Nassar Madhani, that had considerable clout in the state’s electoral scene till a few years back, is only a shadow of what it had been.
The party claims that it has strengthened its organisational structure even in the absence of its supreme leader Abdul Nazar Madhani who is an accused in the Bangalore blast cases and is now living in Bangalore after being granted conditional bail by the Supreme Court.
“We are contesting in 61 seats in this assembly elections. But we are now largely being ignored by the media who seems to have some agenda not to give any prominence to our candidates,” PDP working chairman Poonthura Siraj said. The political stand to be taken in the remaining 79 seats seats will be announced by party chairman Madhani in a couple of days, he said. The fact is that in none of the 61 seats in which they contest, PDP is a force to reckon with.
Political analysts like M N Karassery says the party’s organisational set up is in shambles. “The PDP survived only on the aura of a single leader. It did not have any ideology, a leader other than Madhani or a defined area of activity. It was a one-man show by Madhani and his long spell in the jail eroded almost all its followers to NDF and SDPI,” he said.
A similar view was echoed by political analyst and researcher Fakrudhin Ali, who said that the vacuum left by the PDI has slowly been occupied by organisations like the SDPI. “The SDPI has comparatively better leadership and they also began undertaking extremist activities like the Moovattupuzha hand-chopping case,” he said.
Karassery said that Madhani’s nativity - he was from the Travancore area - has also been a factor in his command waning among the rank and file that eroded to organisations like the NDF, after he went behind the bars.
Experts also feel that the party dug its own grave, without trying to capitalise on the influence Madhani had on the Muslim community. “Madhani tried to make personal gains by uniting himself with the Left when he was out of the jail in 2009. So when the cases against him came up again and he once again went to jail. He could not enjoy the trust and backing of those who tried for his release earlier,” said political analyst N P Chekkutty.
According to him, real influence other organisations like SDPI or the Welfare Party have over the Muslim community members is not remarkable one, but the real gain has been for the Indian Union Muslim League. “The splinter groups like the PDP or the SDPI or Welfare Party may not be able to make much of progress as their hardline thinking does not seem to be in sync with the community anymore,” he said.