Not joining UDF, will not contest in Nilambur bypoll: P V Anvar

Malappuram: Trinamool Congress (TMC) state convener P V Anvar on Saturday said he was not interested in being part of the Congress-led UDF alliance any more, but he will not contest in the upcoming Nilambur assembly bypoll either as he does not have the money needed for it.

Anvar's declaration comes a day after the UDF said that if the TMC leader withdraws his recent remarks against its candidate, Aryadan Shoukath, he will be included in the front's fold.

The TMC state convener, at a press conference here, said that he was not going to the UDF at this stage and none of its leaders should call him anymore.

Following his declaration, the Congress said there was still time and they were hopeful that Anvar would join them.

They also said that Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan did not take any decision on his own with regard to inclusion of Anvar in the UDF.

The clarification came as Anvar claimed that one person -- Satheesan -- was the reason why he was not included in the UDF till now and was being offered only an associate member position.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, UDF convener Adoor Prakash, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Sunny Joseph and senior party leader K Muraleedharan indicated that the doors of the front were not closed to Anvar.

Venugopal said the UDF will take with it everyone opposed to the ruling Left government and it was Anvar to decide if he wants to join the front, while Prakash and Joseph said there was still time for the TMC leader to change his stand.

Prakash also said that he would continue to believe till the end that Anvar would join the UDF.

Muraleedharan said the "doors were not closed" to Anvar and it was up to him to decide whether he wanted to join the front by changing his stand towards the UDF candidate.

"We did not expect him to react like this. Now we have no option but to win from Nilambur whether he supports us or not," he said.

Muraleedharan also said that it was decided to make Anvar a member of the UDF as he had severed ties with the LDF.

However, as he had joined the TMC, it was decided to make him an associate member as it was difficult to cooperate with the Mamta Banerjee-led party at the national level due to its criticism of the Congress on various issues despite being a part of the INDIA bloc.

"Had he formed an independent party and come to the UDF, there would not have been any problem in making him a permanent member," the senior Congress leader said.

Putting the ball firmly in Anvar's court, the UDF on Friday had said that no one in the front was pleased with the TMC leader's criticism of Shoukath and it was "unanimously" decided that he should withdraw those remarks.

Anvar, after Shoukath's candidacy was announced, claimed that public opinion in the Assembly constituency was not in his favour.

He had also accused Shoukath of trying to secure CPI(M) candidacy for this constituency two months ago.

UDF convener Adoor Prakash had said that he informed Anvar about the front's decision over the phone and also urged him to work in cooperation with them on all matters in the coming days.

"I fully believe that he will take an appropriate decision in favour of what we decided. It is with that belief we are moving forward," he had said.

The UDF's decision is in line with a recent remark by Satheesan that Anvar has to decide whether he wants to cooperate with the front's election campaign in Nilambur and after that it will express its opinion on including him in the fold.

On Friday, Satheesan had again said that Anvar had spoken against the UDF candidate and therefore, he now has to clarify whether he supports Shoukath or not.

During his press conference on Saturday morning, Anvar said that while Satheesan has no personal enmity or differences with him, some hidden forces, who wanted to destroy the TMC leader, were behind the opposition leader.

"These hidden forces want to stop me due to my outspoken nature and I believe they are the ones behind Satheesan, but I need to confirm that. They want UDF to win without my support," he claimed.

He further said that he has been "strung along by the UDF" for the last five months without any announcement of including him as an associate member even though many of the front leaders and workers are in favour of his inclusion.

Anvar said that he had wanted a candidate in Nilambur from among the farming community of the hilly region as they were currently facing the brunt of animal attacks, but no political party has done so.

He said that even the CPI(M)-led LDF fielded a candidate -- M Swaraj -- who while hailing from Nilambur has not done anything for the people of the constituency.

Anvar said he cannot contest the bypoll even if he wants to as he does not have the funds needed for it.

He claimed that he has been financially destroyed by the BJP and the Left because I fought for the people.

"I will continue to fight for the people and against 'Pinarayism,' he said.