‘I had warned you they would cheat you,’ former Keralam Minister Jaleel tells P.V. Anvar

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader and former Local Administration Minister K.T. Jaleel has reminded former Nilambur MLA P.V. Anvar that he had warned him against aligning with the United Democratic Front (UDF), saying he would be betrayed.Responding to a social media post in which Mr. Anvar alleged that the UDF had “backstabbed” him in the recent Assembly election, Dr. Jaleel said he had foreseen the outcome. Mr. Anvar had contested Beypore as a UDF-backed Independent against Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate and former Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas.“I had warned you right then that they would cheat you,” Dr. Jaleel said.‘Politics as a business’He said Mr. Anvar’s “openness and straightforwardness” had lost out in the political battle. He reiterated his warning about the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), saying both treated politics as a business.Dr. Jaleel also invoked Mr. Anvar’s father Shoukathali, a freedom fighter, saying his son should not have been left to “suffocate” between the Congress and the IUML and eventually withdraw in silence. The reference to his father’s legacy appeared to underline Dr. Jaleel’s message that Mr. Anvar should reconsider his association with the UDF.Mr. Anvar entered the Assembly as an LDF-backed Independent from Nilambur and was elected in 2016 and 2021. He later fell out with the CPI(M) and resigned as MLA, launching a campaign against what he called “Pinarayism” and “Marumonism”, terms he used to describe the alleged high-handedness of former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his son-in-law, Mr. Riyas.After resigning, Mr. Anvar contested the Nilambur byelection as an Independent against UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath and LDF candidate M. Swaraj. Though he finished third, he polled nearly 20,000 votes, showing that he retained a sizeable personal vote base. The result prompted the UDF to see him as a political force capable of influencing electoral contests.Mr. Anvar, however, made little impact in the local body elections. He later joined the UDF camp and contested the Assembly election from Beypore as a UDF-backed Independent against Mr. Riyas.Mr. Riyas defeated him, with Beypore becoming the only one of the 13 constituencies in Kozhikode district won by the LDF.Mr. Anvar has since alleged that the UDF betrayed him in Beypore despite receiving votes from CPI(M) workers and supporters. He claimed that the UDF had failed to back him fully against Mr. Riyas. Published - August 25, 2026 04:03 pm IST