After his lengthy tirade against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his party, CPM, Nilambur's independent MLA P V Anvar has pulled himself out of the Left Democratic Front.
Anvar had turned the tables on CPM and accused 'father-like' Pinarayi of betrayal during a 2-hour media address at the PWD Rest House in Nilambur Thursday. While wrapping up, Anvar told mediapersons that he can no longer be part of Left front, nor will he partake in CPM's parliamentary party meeting.
"But will you exit LDF and the parliamentary party membership?" the media quizzed him. "I will not give up anything I already hold," Anvar shot back, with conviction.
"Will you resign (as MLA) if the party asks?" Anvar was asked. He replied: "That is not going to happen."
Anvar said he would arrange a public meeting in Nilambur, 'on a Sunday or Monday' to inform his electorate of his decision to not associate with the Front that helped him wrest back the constituency from the UDF in 2016 and retain it in the 2021 Assembly polls.
On where he would choose to sit in the state Assembly now that he has announced his decision to disassociate with the LDF, Anvar said: "I'll tell the Speaker to give me a seat in the centre."
So, where next? "League (IUML) won't accept me, Congress won't let me near it, and I can't go to the BJP," he said.
Anvar's history with Congress
Nonetheless, Anvar seemed conciliatory towards the Congress. He said he had only the deepest regard for the Gandhi family.
He did not forget to recall his family's bond with the Gandhi family. He told how Rajiv Gandhi had chosen to enter the car of his father during his visit to Manjeri a fortnight before his assassination at Sriperumbadur in Tamil Nadu in 1991. "Seniormost leaders like K Karunakaran and A K Antony were there and yet Rajiv Gandhi got into my father's car as he was leaving," Anvar said. His father P V Shoukath Ali was a senior Congress leader. Anvar, too, is a former Congress leader.
Anvar also said that his father's driver was badly traumatised by Rajiv Gandhi's death. "Rajiv Gandhi had sat near him and had patted him before he got out. His death just a few days later was a big shock for this driver who was just about 22 at that time. He had to be given psychiatric treatment," Anvar said.
Since his attack on Rahul Gandhi during the recent election campaign was still fresh, the MLA took it head on. He said his remarks that Rahul Gandhi should check his political DNA was a political counter necessitated by the moment. It was Anvar the CPM had deployed to counter attack Rahul Gandhi who asked why the Kerala Chief Minister alone was not arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.
"I am sure Rahul Gandhi in his right mind would not have said. He would have been misled into it by the local Congress leaders," he said.
