Former three-term CPI(M) legislator P Aisha Potty, who had been maintaining a distance from her party in recent months, joined the Congress on Tuesday. Potty represented the Kottarakkara assembly seat from 2006 to 2021.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph welcomed Potty into the party fold in the presence of AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and AICC in charge of Kerala Deepa Dasmunsi, in Thiruvananthapuram.
Potty, who had a three-decade association with the CPI(M), is likely to be fielded as the Congress candidate from the Kottarakkara seat, currently represented by senior CPI(M) leader and finance minister K N Balagopal. Kerala goes to polls later this year.
Potty, a lawyer by profession, had emerged as a giant killer for the CPI(M) in the 2006 assembly elections, when she defeated prominent UDF leader and Kerala Congress (B) veteran R Balakrishna Pillai, who had represented that seat for nearly three decades. In the 2011 and 2016 assembly elections, Potty had retained the seat for the CPI(M).
In 2006, Potty took oath as a member of the legislative assembly in the name of god, which left the CPI(M) red-faced. The party, then led by state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, had censured Potty as a result.
“The CPI(M) has changed from the days I joined. A few decision makers have made it difficult for me. I have no space in the party. I feel that the party no longer requires me,” she said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that state politics will see surprises before the assembly elections. “Parties and leaders from LDF and NDA will join the UDF in the coming days,” he said.
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Referring to the speculation that LDF ally Kerala Congress (M) is divided over continuing in the alliance, Satheesan said, “There would be surprises. We do not want to question the credibility of the Kerala Congress (M).”
