KOCHI: All India Trinamool Congress state convenor P V Anvar on Monday said the party's Kerala unit will sever ties with the party and a new political outfit will be formed soon.
Addressing a press conference after a state committee meeting, Anvar said the decision was taken as the party did not support him during the Assembly election when he contested as a UDF-backed candidate.
Anvar, who had left the LDF, contested as a UDF-backed independent candidate from Beypore in Kozhikode district in the April 9 Assembly election.
"We were able to form party committees at the district, Assembly constituency and even panchayat levels over the last one and a half years. However, as an all-India party, we did not receive any support from the national leadership,” he said.
Anvar said that when he exited the LDF, he had explained to the Trinamool leadership that his move, including his opposition to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, required support from the UDF in Kerala.
According to him, the party leadership initially did not object, considering the INDIA bloc and its ties with the Congress in West Bengal.
“However, they later changed their stand considering political developments in West Bengal. During the Assembly election, when I contested from Beypore, I requested a national leader for campaigning. However, they said they could not share a stage with the Congress,” he said.
Anvar said the Trinamool leadership told him that its politics in West Bengal would be affected if Congress and Trinamool Congress flags appeared together on the same stage.
“With such politics, we cannot move forward in Kerala. The question of whom to support other than the Indian National Congress in the current national political scenario remains unanswered. Therefore, the state committee has decided to sever all ties with the party's national leadership,” he said.
He said a secular, democratic and socialist political party prioritising the interests of Kerala would be formed.
"It is a time-consuming process. A new party with a clear political policy will be formed by May 15 after discussions with district committees. The party will prioritise the interests of the state, align with the UDF, and oppose ‘Pinarayism’ and fascism. At the national level, it will fully support Rahul Gandhi," he said.
Anvar said the move was aimed at working together with the UDF.
“We had sought the party’s official symbol to contest the Assembly election, but it was denied as an alliance with the Congress was not acceptable to the party,” he said.
Anvar had contested the election as an independent candidate against CPI(M) minister P A Mohammed Riyas.
Earlier, he was an LDF-backed independent MLA from Nilambur.
Following differences with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he resigned from his MLA post but failed to win the bypoll.
After exiting from LDF, he joined Trinamool Congress.
Later, the UDF accepted the Trinamool Congress state unit as an associate party and allotted a seat to Anvar to contest from Beypore.