Withdraw remarks against Shoukath to be included in front: UDF to Anvar

Malappuram (Kerala) | The Congress-led UDF has said that Trinamool Congress (TMC) convener P V Anvar will be made an associate member of the front only if he withdraws his comments against their Nilambur Assembly bypoll candidate, Aryadan Shoukath.

Putting the ball firmly in Anvar's court, UDF convener Adoor Prakash 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 also accused Shoukath of trying to secure CPI(M) candidacy for this constituency two months ago.

Prakash on Friday said that he has informed Anvar about the UDF's decision over the phone and also urged him to work in cooperation with the front 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 told reporters after a UDF meeting held here in the evening.

The UDF's decision is in line with a recent remark of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan who had said 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 said that Anvar had spoken against the UDF candidate and therefore, he now has to clarify whether he supports Shoukath or not.

"Let him do that and after that we will indicate our stand (on including him in the UDF)," he said.

Besides that, Satheesan also claimed that the CPI(M) has announced party leader M Swaraj as the LDF candidate for the Nilambur bypoll only after it failed to poach someone from the UDF.

"Till today morning the attempts were made by LDF to get someone from our side as their candidate and after all their efforts failed, they settled on a party leader as they had no other options," he alleged.

He claimed that the UDF wants a political contest in Nilambur and that the bypoll will be an assessment of the Pinarayi Vijayan government's nine-year rule.

"It is also an opportunity for us, before the 2026 assembly polls, to submit a chargesheet against the state government before the people," he contended.

Meanwhile, Anvar reacted to Vijayan's "curry leaf" comment, by saying that it was an "antibiotic".

"I heard what he said. All I have to tell him is that curry leaf is an antibiotic. It also gives a good taste to the food. We all use it in curries. If any curry has to be tasty and nutritious, this leaf has to be added.

"So, terming me to be akin to a curry leaf has a modicum of fact in it," he said.

Vijayan, at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, took a dig at his known critic -- Anvar -- by saying he was "discarded like a curry leaf".

"There's no need to say much about that person. He was discarded like a curry leaf, wasn't he? That's essentially what happened," the chief minister said, without naming Anvar, while responding to queries during the press conference.

The phrase "discarded like a curry leaf " is a metaphor used by Vijayan to imply that Anvar was quickly and easily thrown aside or rejected, much like how curry leaves are often discarded from the meal once their flavour is extracted.

His remarks come as Anvar, who severed ties with the CPI(M)-led LDF and later resigned as the MLA of Nilambur after joining the TMC, is facing hurdles in gaining entry into the Congress-led UDF, even after offering support to the front's candidate for the bypoll to the Nilambur Assembly seat vacated by him.

The Nilambur bypoll will be held on June 19 and the last date for filing nominations is June 2. The results will be announced on June 23.