As per a report by Times Now, radical Islamist outfit PFI has withdrawn its candidates in the Karnataka elections to reduce competition for the Congress party. This as per the media report was an arrangement made after alleged alliance plans between Congress and PFI was exposed:

PFI withdraws its candidates in Karnataka to ensure less competition for Congress after TIMES NOW reported that PFI and the Congress are planning an alliance in Karnataka. Your channel spoke to SDPI candidate Attaullah Jokatte who confirms the newsbreak pic.twitter.com/thcxu8r8fG — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) April 25, 2018

In the said Times Now report, a correspondent asks Attaullah Jokatte an SDPI (the political arm of PFI) candidate whether he had withdrawn his nomination, which was confirmed by the latter. When quizzed about the reason, Jokatte claimed that it was done to prevent “communal forces” from coming to power.

After being questioned whether they were supporting the Congress, the SDPI leader answered that they were supporting whichever “secular party” was strong in a particular constituency. When pressed over the matter, the SDPI leader claimed that they were opposing the BJP and were supporting Congress and “secular parties”.

When asked about the SDPI’s plans in the Mangalore region, the leader of the radical Islamist outfit again reiterated his party’s support to the “strongest secular party” while detailing those constituencies there had either Congress or the JDS as a strong party.

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This sensational report isn’t the only time PFI and the Congress have been mentioned in the same breath. It has been reported that the Karnataka’s Home Minister had ruled out any immediate ban on PFI by claiming that there was no immediate proposal for the same. The Congress government had also made news in 2015 when it proposed to withdraw 175 cases against the PFI.

The outfit PFI has a violent history in Kerala which includes chopping off hands of a Kerala Professor for allegedly insulting Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Besides this, it has been accused by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of being involved in the controversial ‘love jihad’ cases in Kerala. Recently, activists of its political arm SDPI were arrested in connection with an ABVP worker’s brutal murder in Kerala’s Kannur.

Karnataka too bore witness to the violent fangs of the PFI when it attacked a Hindu boy and Muslim girl in Mangalore.