KOZHIKODE: The UDF, especially Congress, saved itself from embarrassment after it forced the IUML to withdraw its decision to participate in the LDF government’s ‘Vikasana Sadas’, which is being held with the aim of taking the development projects it initiated in nine years to people.

The UDF had decided not to cooperate with the events held in all the districts. In a letter to district-level leaders, UDF convener Adoor Prakash said the Sadas was only a splurge of public money with an eye on elections.

But IUML Malappuram district general secretary P Abdul Hameed asked the party and front workers to make the Sadas a success.

The decision raised eyebrows as the announcement came at a time when the CPM-IUML relationship had touched an all-time low. UDF state leaders intervened.

Mankada MLA Manjalamkuzhi Ali clarified that the IUML will not take part in the Sadas. Speaking to TNIE, Ali dismissed reports suggesting otherwise, calling them a result of “misunderstandings. Instead, he said, the IUML would organise its own development conventions within the local bodies where it holds power.