Ratna Singh admits to 'Kolibi' bid in 1991 polls

KOZHIKODE: The maverick political experiment of Congress- Muslim League- BJP tie- up in the 1991 Vadakara Lok Sabha elections now has got official confirmation from the controversial candidate himself.
Eminent lawyer and former Advocate General, M Ratna Singh who contested in Vadakara as an independent candidate, supported by the so called 'Kolibi' (Congress-League-BJP) alliance, said he lost the election as the arrangement didn't work well with BJP cadres on the ground.
The experiment, which the UDF and the BJP shudder to recall now, had the blessings of the Congress high command because LDF candidate and former union minister K P Unnikrishnan was the Rajiv Gandhi's bête noire. Apart from Vadakara, UDF and BJP supported independent K Madhavankutty at Beypore assembly constituency. The experiment fizzled out as LDF won both Vadakara and Beypore. And it became a permanent embarrassment for the UDF and BJP with the LDF digging up the fiasco in every succeeding election.
"BJP support had a dual effect, both for and against my prospects," Ratna Singh says in his newly released autobiography 'Epilogue'. "From an analysis of the votes that I secured, I feel that most BJP activists have not voted for me in spite of their public propaganda. The Muslim League was actively involved in the campaign and wholeheartedly supported me," Ratna Singh told TOI.
He lost the election to LDF candidate and former union minister K P Unnikrishnan by a margin of 17,489 votes.
He reminisces that tremendous pressure from Congress leadership, orchestrated by K Karunakaran, and League leaders made him take the plunge. Singh said he was informed that the Congress national leadership took the election in the seat held by former union minister K P Unnikrishnan very seriously.
"It was the then KPCC president C V Padmarajan who first requested me to contest. I was reluctant. Prominent IUML leaders including Ummer Bafaki Thangal, former minister P M Abobakkar and Abdulla Koya MP visited me and said that the UDF had given the Vadakara seat to Muslim League and they would like to field me as candidate. They said Rajiv Gandhi, in particular, was anxious about the seat and they could not find a better candidate than me," he added.
Later when I accepted the candidature, Karunakaran told me: "All your records have been examined by Rajivji and he's extraordinarily happy and asked me to provide all facilities for your campaign," he said.