Kerala TMC unit breaks away, P V Anvar to form new party
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The All India Trinamool Congress Kerala unit has decided to break away from the party’s national leadership and form a new political outfit, state convenor P V Anvar announced on Monday in Kochi.
Addressing a press conference after a state committee meeting, Anvar said the decision was taken as the party did not extend adequate support to him during the recent Assembly election, when he contested as a United Democratic Front (UDF)-backed candidate.
Anvar, who had earlier left the Left Democratic Front (LDF), contested from Beypore in Kozhikode as a UDF-backed independent candidate in the April 9 Assembly election. He said the Kerala unit had built organisational structures at district, Assembly constituency and even panchayat levels over the past one and a half years, but received no backing from the national leadership.
“We did not get any support from the all-India leadership,” he said, adding that his political shift from the LDF had been explained to the party in advance, including his opposition to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his expectation of UDF support in Kerala.
According to Anvar, the party initially raised no objections, considering the broader INDIA bloc alignment and Trinamool Congress ties with the Congress in West Bengal. However, he said the leadership later changed its position due to political developments in West Bengal.
He alleged that during the Assembly election campaign, when he sought participation of a national leader, he was informed that the party could not share a stage with the Congress. He further claimed that the leadership stated that Trinamool Congress politics in West Bengal could be affected if Congress and Trinamool flags appeared together.
“With such politics, we cannot move forward in Kerala,” Anvar said, adding that the state committee had therefore decided to sever all ties with the national leadership.
He announced that a new secular, democratic and socialist political party prioritising Kerala’s interests would be formed. The new party, he said, would be established after discussions with district committees and is expected to be launched by May 15. It will align with the UDF at the state level, oppose what he termed “Pinarayism” and fascism, and extend full support to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the national level.
Anvar said the move aimed at strengthening cooperation with the UDF. He also noted that the party had earlier denied its official symbol for his Assembly election candidature due to its unwillingness to align formally with the Congress.
Anvar had contested the recent election as an independent candidate against CPI(M) minister P A Mohammed Riyas. He was previously an LDF-backed independent MLA from Nilambur but resigned following differences with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He later joined the Trinamool Congress and was subsequently accommodated within the UDF as an associate party, which allotted him a seat in Beypore.
With PTI inputs