The elevation of Syed Sadiqali Shihab Thangal as the new State president of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has come at a crucial juncture when the party is battling several issues in its chequered history without power at the Centre and in the State.
His de facto innings as the leader for a short span in the absence of his ailing brother Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal, who passed away on Sunday, demonstrated his pragmatism of a competent and well-organised leader.
Now as the de jure leader, the 58-year-old scion of the Panakkad family has his work cut out to balance his political and religious leaderships as was artfully managed by his predecessors and elder brothers Hyderali Thangal and Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal, both revered by his contemporaries.
