‘I want to see end of Pinarayi regime’: Former CPM-backed MLA Anvar quits Kerala Assembly after joining TMC

According to parliamentary procedure, a legislator who wins as an Independent can come under the purview of the anti-defection law if he joins a political party later. With Anvar’s resignation, Nilambur is headed for a bypoll.

Speaking to reporters on Monday after submitting his resignation, Anvar said, “I will not contest in Nilambur in the bypoll but will extend unconditional support to the UDF. I want to see the end of the Pinarayi (Vijayan) regime. Its countdown begins today.”

Anvar said he resigned as MLA following a direction from TMC founder and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He added that a member of the Christian community should be the UDF candidate in the Nilambur bypoll and said, “I am putting forward the name of District Congress Committee president V S Joy as the candidate.”

Anvar had been representing the Nilambur seat in Malappuram district since 2016 as a CPI(M)-backed legislator. However, in September 2024, the CPI(M) severed ties with the maverick politician after he openly declared war against the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his political secretary P Sasi and the Home Department under Vijayan. Anvar had then raised serious allegations against the police department and accused cops of involvement in looting smuggled gold at Kozhikode airport.

Referring to the corruption charges against Congress legislator and Opposition leader V D Satheesan, Anvar said, “I had raised the allegation against Satheesan at the behest of P Sasi. I am tendering an apology to Satheesan.’’

After severing ties with the CPI(M), Anvar formed the collective Democratic Movement of Kerala a few months ago.

The businessman-turned-politician joined the TMC on Saturday and assumed power as the West Bengal-based party’s Kerala coordinator. He is learnt to have sought asylum in the party after the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance did not open its doors for him. Anvar had defeated the Congress in its stronghold of Nilambur in the last two Assembly elections.

On January 4, Anvar led a protest to the divisional forest office in Nilambur after a tribal youth was trampled by a wild elephant in what was the fifth such death in Kerala over the span of a month. Anvar was arrested after he vandalised the office while claiming to fight for the farmers in Nilambur, which falls under the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency that sees recurrent man-animal conflicts.

After taking over as the TMC state coordinator, Anvar said he wanted the party’s MPs to strongly support amending the Forest and Wildlife Act, 1972.

Anvar started his political career with the Congress. With the Left looking to break the Congress-led UDF’s dominance in Malappuram district, the CPI(M) brought Anvar over to its side before the 2016 Assembly elections and fielded him as a party-backed Independent from Nilambur. The tactic paid off as Anvar defeated Aryadan Shoukath, the son of Congress satrap Aryadan Muhammed who had represented the constituency for three decades.