P V Anvar resigns as MLA announces unconditional support to UDF

    Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 13 (PTI) Kerala legislator P V Anvar, who joined the Trinamool Congress recently after parting ways with the ruling LDF a few months ago, resigned on Monday as the MLA of the Nilambur constituency.
    Anvar met Speaker A N Shamseer in his chamber at the Legislative Assembly complex here and handed over his resignation letter in the morning.
    Anvar, who won the Nilambur seat as a CPI(M)-led LDF supported MLA, had recently announced that he would serve as the state coordinator for the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
    He resigned as a legislator with one-and-a-half years remaining in his term.
    A businessman-turned-politician, Anvar clarified that although he had no plans to resign earlier, he made the decision to quit as per the suggestion of Mamata Banerjee, with whom he had a detailed discussion via video call.
    He requested the Speaker to accept his resignation. A possible disqualification move by the CPI(M)-led LDF is said to be the reason behind Anvar's decision to resign as an MLA.
    Soon after Anvar announced his resignation, the TMC leadership in West Bengal officially announced him as their Kerala state convenor.
    "All India Trinamool Congress under the inspiration and guidance of Hon'ble Chairperson Smt. @MamataOfficial is pleased to announce the @aitc4kerala Convenor. We wish the very best to him in his endeavours," the party said in its 'X' handle.
    Speaking to reporters here after submitting his resignation, Anvar said that he had already emailed the resignation letter to Speaker Shamseer from his official mail ID on Saturday itself.
    In a dramatic move, Anvar also announced that he would not contest the by-election from the Nilambur seat and offered his support to the Congress-led UDF in the constituency.
    "I won't contest from Nilambur (in the upcoming bypoll)...Will give unconditional support to the UDF. We will use our complete strength to ensure the victory of the UDF candidate in the segment," Anvar said.
    Making it clear his fight was against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and "Pinarayism", Anvar said he would request Congress leaders to field a candidate from the Christian community in Nilambur to instil confidence in them, as they are being forced to flee the hilly areas due to attacks by wild animals.
    He urged the Congress leadership to field Malappuram DCC president V S Joy, who belongs to the Christian community, for the seat, asserting that he would win by a margin of 30,000 votes.
    However, when reporters asked about whether he would support KPCC general secretary and film personality Aryadan Shaukat, who was his archrival in Nilambur, as UDF candidate in the segment, he took a dig at the Congress leader and asked "who is he?" and further said "oh...he is a film personality and he is writing story".
    Anvar, throughout his press conference, tried to win the confidence of the UDF and made attempts to portray himself as a scapegoat in the corruption allegations which he had made against Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan in the state Assembly some time back.
    He alleged that it was senior CPI(M) leader and Chief Minister Vijayan's political secretary, P Sasi, who asked him to raise the corruption allegations worth Rs 150 crore against the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).
    Anvar claimed that Sasi had handed him the allegations against Satheesan in the form of a written document and insisted that he was the appropriate person to raise the charges in the House.
    Anvar said the issue was raised with the permission of the Assembly Speaker, and he did not check the veracity of the allegations, trusting Sasi's words.
    "I tender my apologies to V D Satheesan and his near and dear ones for the humiliation they suffered as a result of the allegations," he said.
    Anvar further claimed that he had made revelations against Sasi and IPS officer Ajithkumar, a close confidant of Chief Minister Vijayan, with the permission and knowledge of the "top-level leadership" of the Marxist party.
    He stated that they stopped answering his calls after the chief minister rejected his claims during a press conference.
    However, Anvar was reluctant to disclose their names despite repeated questioning by reporters.
    On his newly-formed association with the TMC, the leader said he had a detailed discussion with the West Bengal CM about the critical issue of the man-animal conflict, which severely affects at least 13 states in the country, including Kerala.
    He said Banerjee assured him that she would raise the matter, which significantly impacts the high ranges of the state, in Parliament and discuss it with the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and other leaders of the INDI Alliance.
    "I am relinquishing my MLA post for the cause of the one and a half crore people living in the high ranges of Kerala," Anvar added.
    When asked about whether the UDF would accept him back into their fold in light of his association with the TMC, he said he had already made his stand clear and would leave it to the UDF to decide.
    Anvar, who won from Nilambur as a Left-supported independent candidate in the 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections, formed the Democratic Movement of Kerala (DMK) two months ago after the CPI(M) severed ties with him following his revolt against the ruling front on several issues.
    Recently, he was arrested for allegedly vandalising a forest office during a protest over the death of a tribal man in an elephant attack in his constituency.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)