P.V. Anvar scrambles for alliance as local body polls near

The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) led by its State convener P.V. Anvar looks increasingly frantic as the State is gearing up for the local body elections to be held on December 9 and 11.

Mr. Anvar’s attempt to join the United Democratic Front (UDF) collapsed after the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) turned him down. Although the UDF is willing to negotiate ward-level seat adjustments with AITC in Nilambur and nearby areas, Mr. Anvar’s demand for a full alliance partnership still finds few takers.

Mr. Anvar’s political stance kept shifting as the deadline for finalising candidates and seat-sharing pacts approached. After claiming he had secured a deal with the UDF, especially the IUML, he abruptly reversed, announcing that the Trinamool Congress would instead pursue a poll strategy of “convenience”.

“The Trinamool will decide whether to elect the UDF in certain wards or not. We will reject those who do not recognise us,” said E.A. Suku, AITC Nilambur constituency chairman.

Mr. Anvar has again shifted tactics and issued an ultimatum to the IUML leadership by threatening to reveal damning information. “I possess sensitive details about certain IUML leaders, and I will make them public if their members keep attacking me on social media,” he warned a news channel, threatening that the material could cost the IUML all its seats in Malabar.

Divergence within AITC

But the official AITC organisational unit in the State led by State president C.G. Unni is livid over Mr. Anvar’s frantic push for a UDF alliance. “Mr. Anvar is behaving as though he owns the party. The Trinamool is a party of the people at the grass-roots level and it will not surrender to either the UDF or Left Democratic Front (LDF),” said Mr. Unni.

He said the AITC national leadership had ordered a focus on strengthening the Trinamool base in Kerala and warned against joining the UDF or LDF. He accused Mr. Anvar of pursuing self promotion and seeking a back-door entry into the UDF rather than building the party.

Trinamool district leaders said that attempts by Mr. Anvar to field AITC candidates in the party’s “flowers and grass” symbol are likely to fail as the party’s State unit does not recognise him. They said the party national leadership is watching Mr. Anvar.

In the Nilambur Assembly byelection held in June this year, Mr. Anvar’s nomination as the AITC candidate was rejected on technical grounds during scrutiny. Anticipating this possibility, he had also submitted a separate nomination as an independent.

Consequently, he contested the byelection as an independent candidate and finished third, securing 19,760 votes (11.23%). His creditable performance left both the UDF and LDF camps introspective. Mr. Anvar’s present confidence, or desperation, rests heavily on the impact of that Nilambur showing.